Paranormal Infatuation
by Black Omochao
Summary: Everyone always said that there was nothing special about Nate, that he was just 'average.' But Lina was sure there was more to it, she knew there was something interesting about him, something worth investigating... now if she could only prove it to Zoey.
1. The Investigation Begins

I know what some people are probably thinking; 'You're starting _another_ story? Even though you already have such trouble updating the ones you have? Are you crazy!?'

And yeah, it would seem crazy at first, but I have a plan, one that I've been planning for a while, that should put to ease those who are waiting for updates on 'A Grimm's Aura,' though less so if you're waiting for an update on one of my other stories.

Basically, I've decided to only work on two main stories at a time (this does not count oneshots, or compilations like the Infinite Loops,) and only stories I've planned out fully. For right now those stories are A Grimm's Aura, and this one; Paranormal Infatuation.

The other 'main' stories I have will remain on hold until two requirements are met; I have planned them out all the way through, and one of my two 'main story' slots are open. Any new main stories I post from now on will have been planned out fully beforehand. I'm hoping for a pattern to be working on one of my old stories, and one new one at the same time, until no old stories remain.

The main stories will be updated one after the other, so the next main story update will be A Grimm's Aura, though I still don't know when it will be finished, with this new plan I'm hoping it won't take too long.

I'll be updating my profile soon with details on this new story plan, with probably some further details than listed here.

Now onto this story itself; it's a pairing between Nate/Keita, and Lina/Rina. Though note that while this story is listed as 'romance,' keep in mind these are _elementary school age kids_, so 'romance' should be taken lightly. The most intimate they will get is a kiss on the cheek, and even that won't happen until towards the end of the story.

Also, to note; I'm not really a 'shipper,' but I do find pairing certain characters fun sometimes. I found the idea of Nate and Lina being a pairing interesting, mostly from their interactions in the games, as most of the kids in Nate's class are criminally underused in the anime, in my opinion at least.

Anyway, that's probably long enough of an Author's note for the beginning of the story, so let's just move on to the story itself.

* * *

Chapter 1: The Investigation Begins

* * *

It was another ordinary day for the students of Springdale Elementary, it was currently lunch time and most of the students were seated in the cafeteria, though not _every_ student.

In a room a bit far off from the cafeteria where the most activity was going on now, a particular club was beginning with its proceedings…

"If nobody has any objections, I will begin the meeting," Zoey suggested with a serious expression, looking towards the only other member of the Springdale Elementary Ghost Club; her best friend Lina.

When the other girl gave no sign of disapproval, Zoey nodded, adjusting her glasses a bit. "Now then, as we both know; Springdale is not just the run of the mill town most people seem to think it is, no… there has been a lot of evidence of supernatural activity, many clues that I have noticed in particular, and the areas they seem to be focused in…"

Lina watched as her friend was going through some papers, her own hand inching towards her backpack with a bit of twitching, as if she was anxiously waiting to bring something up.

"Our own classroom," Zoey commented, pushing through a few notebook's pages, holding up the book and flipping through it, pointing towards written down dates and locations. "Though instances of strange happenings occur all over town, our class has a very unusual number of incidents, inexplicable behavior changes in particular and…" Zoey paused, noting how Lina's hand was brushing against her backpack. "Lina, do you have something you would like to add?"

The only other member of the Ghost Club froze, looking towards her friend with a cough, before standing to her feet and giving a pleasant smile. "Actually, yes; if I may, Zoey, I would like to reintroduce… _that_ theory of mine," Lina spoke with a knowing tone.

Zoey rolled her eyes. "Lina, come on, not this _again_…"

"Zoey, I said 'if I may,'" the long-haired girl chimed, before opening-up her backpack and pulling out a file. "The curious case of Nathan Adams."

"We've been over this; Nate has _nothing_ to do with the supernatural. Trust me, I've taken a good look at everyone in our class, and that guy is the least likely to be involved with anything of that sort, he's just an average boy," Zoey insisted, watching as Lina flipped through the file.

"You claim the same thing that everyone else seems to think, Zoey, but you never actually stop to observe the smaller details," Lina countered, pointing to a few notes in the document. "Case-in-point, I have observed that Nate seems to talk to himself unusually often. Not only that, he is frequently right there at the scene during any sort of strange incidents or behavior among our classmates, and behaves strangely during these events, almost as if he can see something the rest of us can't…"

"Lina, I don't want to discredit your investigation skills, but it sounds to me like you want there to be something to investigate about Nate, more than you actually _believe _there is something," Zoey smirked a bit as she looked towards her friend.

Lina gave the other girl a confused look, "Want? Well I do want us to make progress in our investigations. But I wish you wouldn't discredit the Nate case so quickly, I assure you there is something there, just look at the evidence!" she showed the file to Zoey.

The shorter-haired girl only bothered to give the file a brief look-over, shaking her head dismissively. "Look Lina, this is the _Ghost Club_, we need to keep this professional you know," Zoey insisted, moving over to the other girl and patting her on the shoulder. "Are you sure this desire to investigate Nate isn't because you have… _other_ interests in him?"

Lina blinked under the bangs that covered her eyes. "What other interests could I possibly have, Zoey? The Ghost Club is my top priority, I assure you."

"Right…" Zoey nodded slowly, a mischievous smirk on her face, the young girl having already made up her mind on this matter, to her Lina's protests only solidified her conclusion. "Okay then, why don't you make this your own _personal_ project."

"Personal project? What do you mean by that? We've never had such a thing in this club before," Lina pointed out with a skeptical frown.

Zoey chuckled a bit, waving her hand, "It's simple, Lina. You will tackle the 'Nathan Adams' case on your own, you do what you want, of your own free time, and I won't get involved. And we leave… _this_ matter out of all future Ghost Club meetings."

Lina's features scrunched a bit, giving her friend a disapproving look, "So you're saying you want me to investigate this possible clue on the supernatural activity of Springdale on my own, you don't intend to help me at all?"

The bespectacled girl nodding, giving her friend an encourage look. "Don't think of this as me 'not helping you,' think of this as your own special case. As I said, I don't really think Nate has anything to do with the entities we could be dealing with here, but if you could bring me some more conclusive evidence, I _may_ change my mind on the matter."

"You '_may_…?'"

Despite the bangs that covered Lina's eyes, Zoey could tell that they were narrowing.

"You don't think I'm making this evidence up, do you?" Lina asked in an almost accusatory manner, though she was sure to keep her tone from moving to anger.

Zoey sighed, "Lina, if I thought you were the type to just make stuff up, I wouldn't have ever considered making this Ghost Club with you," she spoke in assured tone, giving her friend a serious look. "But even you must admit it's a bit hard to see_ Nate_ as some center of supernatural activity. Are you _sure_ there isn't some other reason, _any_ other reason, that you are so focused on him…?"

Lina closed the file, giving her friend a serious frown. "No… there's something here, I can feel it." She glanced down at the file she held, before sighing a bit, "Though… I guess the evidence may seem a bit circumstantial…"

Zoey gave the other girl a strange look, squinting her eyes as if she wasn't sure how seriously she should take her friend's stance on this subject. "… Well, if you are so sure of Nate's supernatural involvement, you won't have any problem getting enough evidence to convince me, right?"

"Well, I suppose I could attempt this, but where would I even start with this 'personal investigation' of mine?" Lina pondered as she glanced towards the clock, noting that bell for the return to class would soon ring.

"Well, Nate has friends, doesn't he? Why not ask them for advice on the matter, find out what he likes and such," Zoey suggested, giving a mischievous smile.

Lina looked at her friend strangely but nodded. "I suppose the company he keeps would be the best place to start, I doubt they would know what to look for to spot signs of the supernatural, but they should at least be able to inform me of any other sort of peculiar behavior he may get into outside of school…"

"Er… yeah, sure," Zoey shrugged, glancing toward the clock and nodding. "Okay, meeting adjourned! Didn't get as much done today as I would have liked, but we'll pick this up at our investigation tonight!"

"Our investigation tonight…" Lina nodded to her friend. "Yes, I'll be there, and I'll bring the evidence you desire so."

Zoey chuckled a bit, an amused smile on her face. "Great, just don't spend too much time looking, we both need to be at our best for this investigation!"

Despite her slight annoyance towards her fellow paranormal-enthusiast at the moment, Lina allowed herself to show an amused smile of her own. "I'm _always_ at my best."

"_Sure_ you are," Zoey laughed, gathering her supplies and heading towards the door, glancing back at Lina, whom was still returning her files to her backpack. "Good luck with your _boyfriend_ hunt!" Zoey let out an evil chuckle before bolting down the hall.

Lina paused, giving a confused glance towards the doorway where her friend stood moments ago. "… My _what_…?"

Silence was all Lina got in response to her inquiry…

* * *

The bell that signaled the end of class rang through the halls.

Lina found herself walking through the halls, pondering to herself how to approach Nate's friends about him being involved with the supernatural, and subsequently get the evidence she needed to convince Zoey her case had a leg to stand on…

'_Zoey suggested I start by asking Nate's friends about him, surely if I have noticed something strange about Nate, those close to him will have noticed much more,_' the dark-haired girl nodded to herself, scanning the halls, before spotting a blonde-haired boy she recognized, walking a few feet ahead of her. '_Edward Archer, often referred to as 'Eddie' by his friends. Wealthy family, one of the smartest boys in class, nothing too notable on the supernatural side as far can be told but is fairly close with Nathan Adams…_' Lina allowed a smirk to creep onto her face. '_As decent a place as any to start my investigation._'

Eddie was humming a bit of a tune to himself as he walked, probably whatever song was playing on his headphones. The intelligent boy was paying little attention to his surroundings, which is why a sudden tapping on his shoulder caused him to jump.

"Wha!?" the boy jumped, turning to see Lina smiling at him, he took off his headphones and gave her a puzzled look.

"Hello, Eddie."

"Oh, Lina… hi?" the blonde boy greeted with an awkward wave.

"Yes, so Eddie… do you mind if I call you Eddie?" the dark-haired girl questioned as she kept smiling at him.

"Um… no, that's fine," Eddie nodded, a confused look on his face. "Is there something you want Lina…? You don't usually talk to me, you're usually with Zoey."

A small frown came to Lina's face at the mention of her friend. "Zoey has other priorities at the moment, so I'm on my own for the time being…"

"Oh… I'm sorry?" Eddie offered, still looking a bit confused by the girl's tone and demeanor.

"Don't be, it's not your concern," Lina assured, "That aside, there _is_ something I wanted to ask you… about your friend; Nate"

The intelligent boy blinked, "Nate? You want to know about Nate?" Eddie looked surprised by this turn in the conversation.

"Yes, I want to know about Nate. Like for example; have you noticed anything… unusual about him?"

"What? 'Unusual,' Nate? Uh, not really; he's pretty average… unless you mean 'unusually average,'" Edde chuckled a little, though seemed to regret his words a moment later, frowning a bit. "Though… he is one of my best friends, so maybe I shouldn't say that? It's not like it's an insult, but I know he doesn't really like it… What exactly did you want to know anyway?"

"You too, huh?" Lina muttered to herself, shaking her head and nodding to the boy. "Thank you, Edward, but I think I need to search elsewhere for the answers I seek…"

Eddie watched Lina leave with confusion. "Oh… okay…" he paused, scratching his head. "Wait, now she's calling me 'Edward?'"

Lina couldn't help chuckling a bit as she heard the boy's last comment of confusion, before continuing on her way.

* * *

"Bear, I want to ask you some questions about your friend Nate."

"Huh, hey what's going on here?" Bear questioned, looking a bit freaked out as he glanced between Lina's eerie smile, and the notepad in her hand. "Hey, I don't know you think is going on, but Nate didn't do anything okay! And even if he did, I wouldn't sell out my friend!"

Lina's smile turned to a frown, giving the large boy a blank stare from beneath her bangs. "What are you talking about…?"

"I already said I won't talk, so just move on!" Bear huffed stubbornly, crossing his arms and turning away.

"… Alright, but I just want to know if you've noticed anything unusual about Nate," Lina spoke carefully, walking around Bear and back into his line of sight.

"Unusual…?" Bear blinked, his stubborn expression changing to one of confusion. "Who, Nate?"

"Yes, everybody says he's average, but I have reason to believe Nate Adams might have some… ties with the unusual. As his friend, surely you would notice something like that, right?" Lina's grin returned, looking a bit more eager as she held her pen and notepad up.

Bear blinked again, before giving a loud laugh, "Nate, unusual? Unusually average, maybe!"

Lina frowned a bit at the repeated joke, she didn't find it funny when Eddie had said it either…

Bear didn't notice the girl's frown as he continued laughing, "Where do you come up with this stuff?" the boy wiped a tear from his eye as his laughter calmed down. "No way, you've got the wrong guy if you're looking for some kind of story, Lina."

Lina kept staring at Bear, her expression having turned unreadable. "… You are Nate's _friend_, right?"

"Of course, we're the best of buds!" Bear laughed again, giving a thumbs-up. "Why?"

The spooky girl closed her notebook, shaking her head a bit, before giving the boy a nod. "Thank you for the input, Barnaby, but I think I'll be on my way now."

"Whatever you say, I still don't really know what you're doing," Bear shrugged as Lina walked by him, he looked at her a bit suspiciously, "You sure you're not trying to dig up dirt on Nate to get him into trouble."

"Trouble…?" Lina paused, looking back towards Bear with a slight tilt of her head. "No, getting Nate into trouble is one of the last things on my mind. It would be very… inconvenient for me, tee-hee!" the spooky girl gave a small chuckle before turning and continuing on her path.

Bear scratched his head with a weirded-out expression. "There is something wrong with that girl…"

"I can still hear you," Lina commented, having not walked that far down the hall, glancing back towards her larger classmate with a frown.

"OH!" Bear jumped back in surprise, before giving a sheepish smile. "Um… sorry."

Lina nodded back to him, before turning away and continuing down the hall, heading towards the stairs.

* * *

'_Maybe Nate's immediate friends aren't the ones to ask, they would probably be likely to block out or ignore anything unusual he does subconsciously. Perhaps I should go to those that hang around him but aren't as close to him…_' Lina thought to herself, walking out the school's doors and into the yard.

"Okay, anybody else up for a game of soccer!"

Lina looked up at the exclamation, spotting the tan girl she knew as Alex standing out in the ball field, rallying several other students around her as she held a soccer ball down with her foot.

Lina thought to herself for a moment; she did see Alex hanging around Nate's group of friends on occasion, though not enough to consider the athletic girl part of the group herself. Perhaps she was in that middle ground between distant and close where she would be able to pick up, but not block out if Nate was behaving oddly…

"Alright, we got one, two, three…" Alex counted off the students who had joined her game, before she noticed the spooky girl approaching her, notepad in hand, "Huh, Lina? You want in on the game?" Alex looked a bit surprised by the paranormal-loving girl's appearance.

"No thank you, but I do have something to ask you, Alex," Lina explained, holding up her notepad, "You're familiar with Nathan Adams, are you not?"

The sports-loving girl looked surprised by that question, "Nate…? Yeah, I guess I… know him."

"You, spend time with him at least semi-regularly, correct?" Lina asked with a curious smile.

"Um, maybe… are you trying to _imply_ something?" Alex questioned slowly, her expression turning suspicious.

One of the boys that had gathered for the game, Andy, started chuckling mischievously, but a glare from Alex quickly silenced this.

"I'm not implying anything about you," Lina clarified with a professional tone. "I just want to know if you have perhaps noticed anything… 'unusual' about him?"

"Unusual? No, I mean, nothing I can think of. He just seems like a normal guy to me, but I barely talk to him in the first place," Alex gave a shrug. "He's more Katie's friend than mine, you'd probably be better off asking her about him."

Lina seemed to take this into consideration, giving a thoughtful nod, "Katie, huh…?" a pleasant smile came to the spooky girl's face, before she gave Alex a bow. "Thank you for your assistance, Alex. I believe I may do just that."

"Oh… uh, happy to be of assistance?" the shorter-haired girl watched the other girl leave, a baffled expression coming to her face. "Why's Lina suddenly so interested in Nate anyway…?"

"Maybe it's because he's worth being 'interested' in?"

"Wah!" Alex nearly tripped over her soccer ball at the other girl's response, evidently not expecting Lina to have heard her comment.

* * *

'_Though I suppose Katie could be considered similarly close to Nate as Edward and Barnaby, perhaps she noticed something they hadn't,_' Lina gave an assuring nod to herself as she thought this over, a small smirk coming to her face. '_Girls do tend to be a tad more perceptive than boys, so she could have potentially picked up on a lot more than Nate's male friends._'

With her convictions set, Lina continued her walk away from the proceeding soccer game, hoping that the girl she was searching for had not yet left the school's campus. It didn't take too long for her to spot a pink bow, holding up a ponytail in a mop of brown hair. "Katie!"

"Huh?" the brown-haired girl stopped in her tracks, having just about reached the school's gate to begin her walk home. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted the darker-haired girl moving towards her, "Oh, hi! Lina, right?" Katie questioned, a kind smile on her face.

"Yes, that would be me, nice to know the most popular girl in our class remembers my name, tee-hee!" the spooky girl chuckled playfully, giving a small bow in the process.

Katie chuckled back, looking a bit embarrassed, "'Most popular girl in our class?' Are you sure you're not thinking of Meg, or Maya?"

Lina looked thoughtful for a moment, before shaking her head and smiling at Katie once more, "Nope, the definite consensus among the class has been that it's you for a while now."

"R-really? Me…?" Katie looked like she wanted to hide her face as her eyes darted around, her embarrassment growing.

"Though your popularity aside, that's not the reason I wanted to talk to you," Lina stated frankly, despite grinning a bit at the other girl's reaction to her previous statement. "What, or rather, whom I wish to talk to you about is Nate Adams."

Katie snapped out of her embarrassment, giving Lina a confused look as she processed what she said. "Nate? Why do you want to talk about Nate? Why do you want to talk to _me_ about Nate?"

"Well, aside from Eddie and Bear, you are his closest friend," Lina stated with a shrug. "And they honestly weren't much help."

"I could see that," Katie muttered a bit with a side-glance, before letting out a fake cough and focusing on the other girl again. "But why do you want to know about Nate all of a sudden…?" Katie's eyes scrunched slightly, before they widened, "Could it be… do you_ like_ Nate, Lina?"

"I don't really know Nate enough to say if I like him or not, but I'm definitely interested in him, tee-hee!"

"Oh, I see, you're_ interested _in him," Katie nodded with a slightly mischievous grin, "I get it."

"Something about your tone makes me think you don't exactly 'get it,'" Lina muttered a bit to herself, before nodding to the other girl. "Either way, any info about him would be helpful."

Katie put her arms to her hips, still smiling at her darker-haired classmate, "Well, I don't think I have much I could tell you that you probably hadn't already heard from Eddie or Bear, but I think you would be better off asking Nate about himself, he may be average, but he is a nice guy! You should really just talk to him directly."

"Hm, talk to him directly?" Lina looked thoughtful at this suggestion, "I hadn't really considered the straightforward approach, but there may be some merit to your idea…"

"Well I'm glad I could help," Katie nodded with a wide smile, "Just be sure not to be_ too_ pushy, you might end up scaring him off."

"Noted, but no promises," Lina allowed herself a little smirk, despite her classmate's smile turning to a bit of a frown. "So, do you know if he's left school already?"

"I'm pretty sure he hasn't yet, though he's probably got all his stuff together by now…" Katie scratched her head with somewhat unsure expression. "I'm sure you could still catch him before he leaves."

"Hmm, good, I shall seek him out," Lina nodded with an appreciative expression. "Thank you again for your assistance, Katie. I shall now continue with my investigation!"

Katie kept her unsure expression as she watched Lina head back towards the school.

* * *

Lina was both happy, and slightly disappointed, that finding Nate wasn't all that hard. She hadn't walked too far from the spot she had spoken with Katie, when she found the brown-haired boy by one of the school's corners… seemingly having a conversation with nobody?

A flash of excitement went through Lina's mind, was this it? Had she already stumbled upon the boy having interactions with the supernatural. With a bit of a spring in her step, Lina inched closer, intent on listening in.

"–well, maybe if you didn't have to look them up every time, and– "Nate's voice sounded frustrated as he shook his fist at the air, seemingly growing more frustrated at something left unheard to the girl spying on him. "Okay, that's not fair! Circumstance has proven that little 'habit' of mine correct more times than not!"

Lina inched closer, even though she could only hear one half of the conversation, she could sense some kind of… presence by her male classmate's side, maybe if she just got a little closer…

The sudden sound of a twig snapping had the boy's head immediately turning and looking directly at the spy.

"L-Lina?" Nate questioned with a confused expression, his eyes briefly darted towards the 'air' he had been conversing with, before focusing on her again.

"Yes, that is my name, as yours is Nate, tee-hee," the spooky girl chuckled with a nod. "I'm glad it didn't take too long to find you… we're you talking to someone just now?" Lina glanced around, not seeing anyone, it seemed the presence she had been feeling moments ago had faded, but it did feel like something was off about the air around them…

"Um, no, I wasn't talking to anyone," Nate was quick to a assure with a few waves of his hands.

Lina's expression turned a bit suspicious at the boy's denial, but her smile quickly returned before she held up her notepad. "Nate, I've been trying to learn about you all from your friends, but I was given the idea that talking to you directly might be the better way to go with this."

"Oh… you want to know about me?" Nate raised a brow questioningly.

Lina eagerly nodded, "Yes, like for example; do you perhaps… see or hear things other people don't notice…?"

"W-what? What kind of question is that?" Nate backed up a bit with a nervous scratch of his head as the dark-haired girl leaned forward. "No, of course I don't."

"Hm…" Lina frowned. "Well, what about unexplained things happening around you, have you noticed anything like that…?"

"… Why do I feel like I'm getting interrogated here?"

Lina chuckled a bit at Nate's assessment, "Interrogation seems a bit too accusatory for what I'm doing. I just want to learn about you, Nate. I know there's more to you than just an 'average' boy, despite what everyone says."

Nate flinched at the word 'average,' before sighing and giving a bit of a cough, "I'd like to think there is, but I don't think I'm like what you're looking for, Lina."

Lina looked unsatisfied with this response, "You _sure_ about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You _really sure_?" Lina leered as she moved closer to the boy.

"Y-yes, I'm really sure," Nate took a step back, his expression turning a bit creeped out.

"You really, _really_ sure…?" an eerie smirk creeped its way onto Lina's face as she cornered Nate against a wall.

"YES! I'm sure, okay!?"

"Alright, don't need to bite my head off," Lina chuckled at the boy's embarrassed look as she backed off, before humming a bit as she looked thoughtful, '_This doesn't seem to be going anywhere, maybe I need to put him into the right environment to… that's it!_'

"Uh, Lina, I kind of need to go home, so…" Nate tried to inch himself around the creepy girl but froze when she raised a hand in his way.

"Nate!" Lina exclaimed seriously. "Come back here later tonight, I want you to join in the Ghost Club's investigation of spirits inhabiting the school!"

The 'average' boy gave a blank look at this sudden request. "Um… no?"

"Yes," Lina insisted, moving to keep Nate from walking past her. "Please return here at precisely 19:00 o'clock later this evening for the investigation."

"No, I'm not going to do that," Nate reaffirmed, trying to move past Lina again, and giving a frustrated grunt when she continued to block him. "And besides, I'm not supposed to be out that late by myself, my mom won't allow it."

Lina remained firm in her stance. "Have your mom call my mom, we have permission to do this investigation tonight."

Nate groaned, "Look Lina, I'm sorry, but I don't want to look for ghosts, I get enough of…" the boy paused for a moment, "I mean… ghosts aren't real!"

"Don't sound so sure of yourself there," Lina chuckled with a small smirk.

The boy let out a long sigh, "I just want to go home, so…" Nate tried to run past Lina, but she caught him by the arm and pulled him back. "Hey!"

"Nope," Lina shook her head as Nate struggled against her grip, before she pulled him back into his previous position.

"Wow," Nate couldn't help but look impressed after the ghost-obsessed girl had released his arm. "You're stronger than you look."

"Yes, I am. Thank you," Lina smiled at the compliment. "So, see you at seven?"

Nate gave a defeated sigh, "If my mom gives the okay, fine."

"Great, I look forward to the results of the investigation!" Lina stepped out of her classmate's path, before giving a bow. "Thank you for your cooperation, Nathan."

"'Cooperation…' right," Nate nodded back slowly, before beginning his walk home.

Lina watched the boy leave, before smiling to herself, "Zoe wanted proof, maybe going on a little ghost hunt with Nate around will be enough proof for her…"

* * *

"I can hardly believe what just happened, I daresay I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it for myself!"

"Whisper, what are you talking about?" Nate questioned his 'faithful' yo-kai butler as he walked down the sidewalk, towards his house.

The ghost gave the human boy a disbelieving look, "Nate, were you not paying attention? That young lady back there just asked you out on a date!"

Nate blinked, stopping in his tracks. "What? No, you're crazy Whisper!" he shook his head before his legs started moving again. "An investigation to find ghosts in our school isn't a date, it's too creepy. Plus, I don't talk to Lina enough for her to want to ask me out."

Whisper floated a bit ahead of his young master, giving a thoughtful look as he hummed, "Perhaps she's admired you from afar for while and has only now gotten the courage to approach you!" the ghostly butler did a spin in the air before flying in front of Nate, looking him in the eye. "This poor girl probably doesn't know how to even begin to express her interest in you, so she's using another of her interests as a proxy–the paranormal!" Whisper nodded to himself with a proud look, as if he had just solved some great mystery.

Nate turned the corner that lead to the street he lived on, looking annoyed that the yo-kai butler was blocking his vision. "You're jumping to conclusions. Also, get out of the way!"

Whisper huffed a bit as the young boy pushed him aside, floating over to the side, moving alongside Nate at the same pace as the human. "No, it makes sense Nate, you just need to read between the lines!" Whisper crossed his arms and nodded, despite how his human companion was now trying to ignore him. "Trust me, it shocked me too that a girl was interested in _you_, out of all the boys in your class."

Nate twitched a bit but didn't respond to the ghost's jab.

Whisper seemed disappointed his master didn't take the bait, so he decided to go for a different angle, "You know Nate, considering your experience in the field, you could probably really impress this girl during this little 'investigation,' show her your spirit-wrangling expertise!"

Nate let out an annoyed sigh, "Whisper, even if I did want to impress her, she can't see yo-kai, so what would that even prove to her?"

The ghost paused, looking a bit lost on how to respond. "Uhh…"

"That's what I thought," the eleven-year-old boy grunted, looking up as they approached his home, before he let out another sigh. "I'll bring it up to my mom I guess, I did agree… however unwillingly. If she shoots the idea down right away, Lina can't blame me for not showing up." Nate muttered a bit to himself, opening the door.

"I'm sure your mom will let you go if Lina's mom gives the okay, and she'll be rather excited her son's going on his first date!" Whisper exclaimed proudly as he floated into the house.

"It's not a _DATE_!" the young boy growled as he took his shoes off and set them by the door.

"Hm, Nate? Did you say something about a… 'date?'"

Nate froze up at the sound of his mother's curious voice.

* * *

Well, there's the first chapter of this little story. I'll be beginning work on the next after A Grimm's Aura has been updated next.

Tell me what you think, and don't be afraid to give constructive criticism, I'm always looking to improve my writing :D.

Also, a note: this story is primarily based on the Yo-kai Watch anime, but there's a lot of influence from the games too of course; the personalities of characters such as Lina and Zoey of course, since the anime pretty much gives us _nothing_ for characters like them.

Another thing, which will become somewhat obvious if you've played the quests in the game, some of the plot will be based rather heavily on the Ghost Club quest-line from Yo-kai Watch 2, not a copy-past or anything, but there is definitely a heavy influence.


	2. Creeping in the Night

Well here's the second chapter of this story, heavily based on the first Quest in Yo-kai Watch 2's Ghost Club quest-line, though not a direct recreation, of course.

Remember; Yo-kai Watch is property of Level 5.

* * *

Chapter 2: Creeping in the Night

* * *

Nate gave a pained sigh as he flopped onto his bed, having retreated to his room in attempt to get away from the _horrible _conversation his mom was having on the phone with Lina's mom; gushing about how 'cute' the idea of their children's 'date' was, while also crying about them 'growing up so fast…'

One misheard comment, along with a bit of a fumble on the explanation, and all hopes for his mom to veto the creepy girl's little investigation invite were thrown out the window, and if that wasn't bad enough; now his mom thought he had a crush on _Lina_!

"I don't know how this could get any worse," the young yo-kai watch user moaned, turning over onto his stomach and stuffing his face into his pillow.

Jibanyan, his ever-loyal feline companion, of course knew the _perfect_ response to that comment, "Well; Katie could find out, and show complete support towards the idea of you and Lina together!"

"Please don't give my nightmares ideas," Nate muttered darkly, peeking up from his pillow and glaring at the nekomata.

The ever-unhelpful yo-kai butler decided at that moment to interject, floating over his master with a disappointed look, "Really Nate, this girl worked up the courage to ask you out, the least you could do is give her a chance!"

Nate's glare worsened as he looked up at the ghost, his words coming out as a seething hiss, "_It. Is. Not. A. Date._"

"Yeah, I'm not sure I buy it either, Whisper," Jibanyan raised a paw while sitting on the floor. "It's kind of hard to believe that any girl would ask _Nyate_ out on a _date_."

Nate growled ever so quietly into his pillow.

"Jibanyan, I can tell you that I had a hard time believing it myself, and I was there! But I can assure you that it's the truth!" Whisper spoke confidently as he floated down to the cat yo-kai's side. "There is in fact a young lady whom is showing interest in our Nate here!"

Nate's growling grew slightly louder.

"Nya… nyot buying it! Unless this girl who 'asked him out' is crazy, is she crazy Nyate?"

"Alright, that's enough!" Nate finally snapped, pulling him up from his bed and looking at the two yo-kai with a scalding glare, before he jumped up from the bed and marched passed the stunned yo-kai and out of towards the door. "I'm going back downstairs; I'd rather listen to mom's embarrassing talk about this _not_-date than you two insulting me!" and with a loud *slam!* of the door, the human boy was gone.

Whisper and Jibanyan both stood in silence, staring at the door, both looking a bit unsure of how to respond to what had just occurred.

The closet door slid open, revealing a curious Hidabat, peeking out of the darkness with nervous eyes, "Er… I'm sorry, but what's going on…?"

Neither of the other yo-kai could bring themselves to give an answer.

* * *

"I can't believe you went and invited Nate to join us in our investigation, without first discussing it with me," Zoey grunted, both she and Lina standing at the front of the school, looking up at the night sky. They would have already gone in if it were just the two of them, but _now_ they had to wait for their third…

"I said I would bring the evidence to convince you of my theories tonight, didn't I?" Lina pointed out, giving a cheeky grin as she looked her friend's way. "What better evidence than to bring the man himself to an actual paranormal investigation?"

Zoey rolled her eyes, "Okay, first of all; I'd be hard pressed to call Nate a 'man,' aside from maybe in _your_ fantasies."

Lina grin gave way to a confused frown at those words from her companion.

"And second of all," Zoey continued, raising her index finger, before pointing at Lina. "While I respect the idea of putting your _hypothesis_ to the test out in the field, I also don't like the idea of some clueless _boy_ ruining our carefully planned out ghost hunt."

"Why are you being so negative? I'm sure Nate will make our ghost hunt most interesting…" Lina insisted, her visage changing to a mysterious smile as she looked up at the glittering stars, before she looked at her still-frowning friend again. "On second thought, keep up the negativity; it might attract more spirits…"

Zoey scoffed, looking away with a huff.

It was a few minutes longer of silence between the two girls, before the third to their team for this investigation showed up, walking up to them with an unsure look.

Lina took immediate note of Nate's appearance, turning to the boy with a friendly, yet eerie, smile, "Ah, Nate, I'm glad you were able to make it."

"Well… you really didn't seem to want to take 'no' for an answer…" the boy muttered while scratching the back of his head, looking like he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be there.

"Many men find assertiveness to be an attractive trait in a potential partner, maybe that's just your type, Nate?" Whisper smiled, floating behind the boy, unseen by the two girls.

Nate did his best to ignore his yo-kai butler, and his continued insistence that this was a date, even though Zoey was also there…

"Yes, so nice of you to join us, Nathan, you're late," Zoey stated, giving the boy a critical look, and a dangerous grin.

"Er… sorry about that," Nate waved nervously, "It was kind of hard to convince my mom not to… come in with me…" the yo-kai watch user glanced back over at the school gate… where his mom still stood, waving at him.

"Is it too scary, Sweetie!? Do you need me to come with you after all!?" the adult woman looked ready to rush over at a moment's notice.

Nate's face burned with embarrassment, waving back at his mom and calling out to her, "No thanks, mom, I can still handle it!"

Luckily the eager mother calmed down, though she still looked ready to jump in at the slightest provocation.

Nate sighed, lowering his head as he heard a bit of chuckling from Lina and Zoey.

"Well… that will certainly cost you some points," Whisper pointed out with a blank look, before shrugging, "But, moms will be moms, might as well get her embarrassing you in front of your new girlfriend out of the way now."

Nate still refused to regard the yo-kai butler's comments, especially since he knew it would only make him look more foolish than he already did in front of the two girls.

Lina's bit of chuckling calmed down, before she reached over and placed an sympathetic hand on the boy's shoulder, "It's understandable, Nate, it takes a lot to convince my mom not to follow me in our investigations too," Lina assured with a calm smile, nodding to the boy. "Though I will say, I didn't expect our moms to hit it off so well, they sure talked for a while…"

"Yeah… they did…" Nate muttered, glancing away in embarrassment, remembering how much his mom was gushing about his 'first date' while talking to Lina's mom on the phone…

"I don't know what you two are talking about," Zoey waved off the two, giving a smug grin, "My parents know I can handle this on my own, they don't even follow me here!"

Nate looked surprised by that statement, '_Do Zoey's parents let her walk home alone this late…?_'

Lina, however, looked unimpressed with Zoey's brag, and was quick to debunk Nate's thoughts, "That's because they know my mom well, and trust her to get you home safe and sound…" a small smirk snaked its way onto the blue-haired girl's face, "Plus, there's that whole, 'safety check' they always make you go through making sure you remember all their safety rules, and have your spare glasses on you, and– "

"Alright, you've made your point, Lina!" a thoroughly embarrassed Zoey interrupted, looking away to hide her red face. "No need to throw me under the bus to impress a guy!"

"It wasn't to impress him," Lina countered in a blunt tone, before she gestured to the school, "Come, we may have permission to investigate the school, but we still need the security guard to let us in."

Nate gave Zoey a questioning look, she didn't say anything and just followed Lina as they walked around to the side of the school, where the staff entrance was. Nate sighed before following as well.

* * *

After knocking on the door, the security guard had let the group of children into the building, and the teacher's lounge, once Lina had shown her note from the principal that they were allowed to do their investigation for the Ghost Club.

"So, I'll be here for most of the time you're doing your little 'investigation,'" the light-brown haired young woman gave a friendly smile as she looked at the children, chuckling a bit, "Just remember to be safe, and that I'll be here to help if something happens."

"Don't worry, I assure you that we know what we're doing," Lina spoke in a professional tone, which just had the guard chuckling and muttering something about her being 'cute.'

"So, the principal is really okay with us rummaging around the school at night to look for ghosts?" Nate questioned with a skeptical expression.

"We're not just 'rummaging around' Nate, we know what we're doing," Zoey countered with a slight glare.

"Indeed, it was known ahead of time that we would be doing this, we have a list of areas we're allowed to examine along with our note of permission," Lina explained, holding the note from the principal, "Hopefully, with you here, there will be some… interesting results, tee-hee!"

Nate looked a bit uncomfortable at that comment from Lina.

Zoey rolled her eyes, before she glanced towards the security guard, looking at her for a moment with a strange expression, before something seemed to click for her, "Hey, wait… aren't you one of the girls from that maid café in Sparkopolis…?" Zoey questioned with a blank look.

"Huh…" Nate looked baffled at that accusation.

Lina put a finger to her chin, humming a bit, "Yeah… I see it! 'Cindy,' right?"

'Cindy' sweardropped, chuckling a bit more, "Well, yes, but that's just a part-time job… being a security guard, and keeping this school safe, is my main career."

Nate still seemed confused, "That's… an _odd_ part-time job for a security guard to have, isn't it…?"

"Some might say that, but I find enjoyment in both of my jobs," Cindy assured with a good-natured smile. "But enough about me, don't you have that 'ghost hunt' to get to?"

"A yes, we mustn't get side-tracked, even if we just discovered our school's security guard is a celebrity," Lina spoke seriously, with Zoey nodding in agreement.

"_Celebrity_…?" both Nate and Cindy questioned with baffled expressions.

"Come, Nate, we must get going!" Lina insisted, motioning towards the exit of the room.

Nate sighed, muttering to himself, "Well… I can only hope this doesn't end up being a huge mess of yo-kai hauntings…"

"Don't worry Nate, I assure you there is no yo-kai that would ruin your date," Whisper assured his master, patting his back.

Nate twitched, growling a bit towards Whisper, "It's not a date," shaking his head, the boy began moving to follow the girls.

As Nate spoke to Whisper, Lina stared at him, a small smile on her face, before she slinked into the hallway before he could notice her.

* * *

The kids were walking down the hall, Lina and Zoey a bit ahead of Nate, whom seemed to be purposely lagging behind.

"You just couldn't resist asking out your new _boyfriend_ on the same night as our investigation," Zoey snarked to Lina with a slight chuckle.

Lina gave her fellow investigator a confused frown, "'Boyfriend…?' What are you talking about Zoey? I never said anything about Nate being my boyfriend."

"… Yeah, I should've known that one would fly over your head," Zoey gave a disappointed sigh while shaking her head.

Lina kept her confused look as she continued to stare at the other girl, before a gasp from Nate caught her attention, and she and Zoey both moved over to the boy's location.

Nate was on one knee, rubbing it with a grunt, before he noticed a hand being offered to him by Lina, which he gratefully took and stood back up. "Thanks…"

"No problem, so what happened? Did you see something?" Lina questioned, looking around with a bit of excitement, thinking her plan was already working.

"Yeah, did you…?" Zoey looked around with a suspicious eye, before focusing on the boy.

"Um… no, I just… tripped on something," Nate didn't seem particularly sure of his answer, glancing down at the ground with slightly narrowed eyes.

Both Lina and Zoey looked at the ground as well.

"Nate… there's nothing to trip on there," Lina pointed out, noticeable interest in her tone.

"Really, well…" Nate briefly looked at the spot on the ground again, before sheepishly chuckling, "Well… maybe I'm just a bit clumsy, it is dark after all…"

Zoey gave mischievous chuckle of her own, patting Nate on the shoulder as she walked by him, "Well, this is your first investigation, so getting a little jittery does make sense, just try not to trip _us_ up too much." Zoey let out another laugh as she continued walking through the hall.

Lina stared at Nate for a moment, the hair covering her eyes preventing an accurate read of her emotions.

Nate did his best to smile, sweating a bit from how the spooky girl seemed to be staring into his soul.

Finally, Lina nodded, her frown of suspicion returning to a pleasant smile, "Let's not keep Zoey waiting, Nate, tee-hee!" with a slight motion for the boy to follow, Lina continued down the hall.

Nate watched the two girls walking ahead, letting out a subtle sigh of relief, before glancing back at the spot where he had trip, his eyes turning suspicious, before he shined the light of his yo-kai watch onto the spot.

The boy stiffened when what became visible was no yo-kai, but a series of threads… threads that heavily resembled spider webbing, and they seemed to spread out further from that spot where he had just happened to trip on them.

Becoming aware of them now, Nate looked around, feeling his mood drop as he noticed how much of the school had this strange webbing spread throughout it, creeping up walls, spread across the floors, wrapped around doors…

'_None of this has ever been here during the day…_' Nate thought, letting out a nervous gulp, he was about to turn to Whisper for potential answers, when he suddenly heard a creek.

"_Play…"_

"W-Whisper… did you hear that…?" Nate asked as he turned to his yo-kai butler, his body shaking.

"_Play with me…"_

"Hm, Nate, did you say something?" Whisper questioned, looking up from his yo-kai pad, apparently having not heard the creepy voice that had crept itself into his master's ears moments before. Before Nate could give any response, the ghost took a good look around, and gave a yelp of surprise and distress at the sight of the webbing that had snaked its way all over the school. "Good heavens! What is this disgusting mess!?" Whisper did a twirl, before he produced a broom and dustpan from seemingly nowhere, a determined look on his face, "As a butler I simply cannot allow the building where my master is to receive his education to remain in this state! It's simply unacceptable!"

"Whisper…" Nate groaned, watching as his yo-kai butler went to work, attempting to sweep up some of the webbing, the idea of questioning him about what yo-kai could be responsible for this now lost on Nate.

Suddenly, a high pitch scream echoed through the halls, startling both Nate and Whisper. It was a different voice than the creepy one the boy had heard moments before, this one sounded more feminine, and frightened…

Nate's face paled, "The girls!" he exclaimed with worry, quickly rushing in the direction that Lina and Zoey had gone, hoping that the two hadn't been caught by some sort of horrifying yo-kai…

"Nate, wait up!" Whisper called out, reluctantly abandoning his mission to clean up the school to chase the boy.

Unknown to the boy, with each step he took, small sparks were made in the webbing that coated the floor. Traveling along the threads' trails, the sparks made their way up the stairs, eventually making their way to the third floor's girls' bathroom.

A sinister chuckle echoed through the halls, the door of the bathroom creaking open, two large glowing eyes shining in the darkness.

"_Play… Play with me little children… Forever and ever…"_

* * *

Nate continued down the hall in a panic, turning towards the nurse's office, pulling the door open as quickly as possible before jumping into the room. "Lina, Zoey, are you two alright!?"

The two girls looked over at him blankly, Lina looking at one of the beds, while Zoey was examining the scale in the corner of the room.

"Well, look who decided to catch up," Zoey shook her head as she gestured to the boy, smirking a bit with a chuckle. "What's wrong, get cold feet?"

"I… uh…?" Nate blinked, looking between the two girls, neither seemed the least bit bothered. '_But… than who screamed…?_'

"Nate wait up…" Whisper gave a gasp for breath as he caught up, placing a hand onto the doorway and attempting to catch his breath.

"Nate, what took you so long?" Lina asked with a small frown, crossing her arms as she looked over the boy. "I gave the indication for you to follow, didn't I?"

"This is what you get for randomly brining amateurs into a professional investigation, Lina," Zoey scoffed as she looked over the scale with a critical eye. "If you wanted to impress him so badly, you could've thought of a way to do that _without_ compromising this investigation."

Lina glanced over at Zoey, "Impress…? This is about investigating spirits, not impressing anyone."

Zoey groaned at another one of her attempts to tease her friend getting no response.

"I… I…" Nate looked unsure, before he sighed and gave a bow, "I'm sorry, I was lost in thought, and I thought I heard one of you scream and– "

"Wait, you heard a _scream_?" Lina interrupted; her annoyance completely gone as she looked at Nate with fascination.

Even Zoey seemed a bit interested now, looking up from the scale and turning her eyes to the boy. "And you thought it was one of us, what did it sound like?"

Nate suddenly felt a bit nervous at being put on the spot, shuffling a bit and letting out a small, unsure laugh. "Well… it was a girl's scream, that's kind of it… I sort of went into a panic, I thought one of you might be hurt, but I guess not…"

Despite his lack of a satisfying description, Lina and Zoey were already looking to each other and exchanging a few whispers.

"See, I told you," Lina smiled to the glasses-wearing girl.

"It's interesting, but it doesn't prove anything," Zoey whispered back, sneaking a glance at Nate. "Not that I think he's lying, he really seemed frightened, but hearing a scream nobody else does is a very _basic_ supernatural encounter, just because it happened to him doesn't prove anything."

"It's a bit more than that, and you know it," Lina insisted. "You saw he also tripped earlier, I know he said he was saying it was just because it's dark, but I'm pretty sure it's more than that…"

"Um… guys?" Nate raised a hand, a sweatdrop forming on the side of his head at how the girls were now basically ignoring him… to whisper _about _him.

Without a second to spare, the ghost hunting duo broke apart, smiling towards the boy (though Zoey's smile was clearly one of mischievous intent, while Lina's was more genuine.)

"Sorry about that Nate, but this is definitely an interesting encounter you had," Lina said, before humming to herself thoughtfully. "I wonder if this means we're dealing with a female spirit, or if the scream of a female was faked by the spirit because it knew that would get more of a reaction out of you…?"

"I… think it might just have been my imagination," Nate muttered, putting a hand to his head while he shook it, pushing down a feeling of dread as he noticed more of the spider-webbing all around the nurse's office, invisible to Lina and Zoey.

"Come on man, that's no fun," Zoey shook her head, shining her flashlight at Nate, smirking, "You looked like you were about to pea your pants, I doubt your imagination could scare you that bad."

Nate's face turned red as his expression turned to a glare, while Lina and Zoey both let out a few laughs at his expense. "Whatever, let's just forget it, okay!?"

"You're not making the best of an impression on this date, Nate," Whisper muttered, still letting out a few tired breaths as he floated over the boy's shoulder, but a harsh glare from his master had him reeling back a tad.

"It's not a date…" Nate hissed so only the ghost could hear, before he made his way into the room. "Okay, so what are we investigating here anyway?"

Lina hushed Zoey to stop her laughing, halting her own as she looked at Nate, "Well, we've heard rumors that sometimes the medical equipment gets a little… weird, tee-hee," she giggled a bit, before gesturing area the bed she had been looking over, "Things like scales acting strangely, the beds shaking, other such things…"

Nate looked at the bed briefly, before glancing over to Zoey as she gave an annoyed groan as she looked up from examining the scale.

"Well, this one's seems to be a dud, there's nothing going on here." The bespectacled ghost hunter sighed.

"Yeah, not getting much over here either," Lina admitted, sounding disappointed, "I was hoping a presence would make itself known, but the only evidence of the supernatural so far was Nate hearing that scream."

"Which neither of us experienced," Zoey groaned, shaking her head.

Nate walked over to Zoey, along with Lina, passing the scale along their way.

"Well, sorry I kind of missed the investigation of this room," the brown-haired boy apologized, trying to take his mind away from the creepy webbing, which he was almost certain was _moving_ when he wasn't looking… "But, what's our next– "

"The scale!" Lina suddenly interrupted.

"What, I just checked it!" Zoey gave a disbelieving look as she moved back over to the scale.

"What?" Nate blinked, turning around giving a gasp of surprise. "The scale… it's moving."

Indeed, the previously inert scale was now shaking, the arrow on the meter moving about erratically, all on its own without any sign of a physical manipulator.

"It started moving as soon as Nate passed by it…" Lina spoke, a pleased smile appearing on her face as she gave a quiet giggle.

"You've gotta be kidding…" Zoey muttered with a look of disbelief, before it settled into a satisfied smirk. "I never thought that theory of yours would have any merit, but this is definitely something…"

"Er… what?" Nate looked at the two girls questioningly, before glancing back at the scale suspiciously, tempted to use his yo-kai watch to examine it, but deciding against it with Lina and Zoey so close to him.

"Nate, do you feel anything, perhaps you're hearing something?" Lina spoke up, looking at the boy hopefully.

The boy paused, about to respond to Lina with a simply 'no,' when he did indeed hear something.

A frightened sniffle passed through the air, Nate's body stiffened as he kept looking at the scale, "Is that… a girl crying…?"

"Hm…?" Both Lina and Zoey looked questionably at the boy, clear interest on both of their faces.

Nate carefully reached toward the shaking scale, before it suddenly stopped, Nate stopped in his movement, blinking in confusion when the sound of crying faded, "What… was that?"

"I knew it, I knew bringing you here would bring about more supernatural encounters," Lina spoke with a wide grin, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, startling him. "You do have some connection to the spirits, don't you?"

"W-what? No, it… I don't know what that was," Nate tried to justify, waving Lina's hand off and shaking his head.

Zoey looked at the scale for a moment with a curious eye, before nodding, "Yeah, I still don't know about this 'connection' you're so insistent on, Lina. That was something, but two examples don't make a pattern," the black-haired girl seemed thoughtful, before her teasing smirk returned. "Actually, maybe it has less to do with Nate himself, and more that he's a _boy_…"

Lina looked towards the other spooky girl questioningly, "What do you mean by that? Does this perhaps have something to do with the evidence that the spirit may be a young girl…?"

Nate scratched his head, looking uncomfortable with this line of discussion, before glancing back at the scale.

Zoey chuckled, "Yeah, see; maybe the reason the spirit is only showing herself to Nate, is because you've got a little bit of competition, Lina!" the glasses-wearing girl tried to hold back an evil giggle as she continued, "He might be the first boy the spirit's seen since she died, she may have been smitten in an instance!"

Nate looked over at Zoey, his face paling slightly at what she was suggesting, noticing the web around the room again, '_If the yo-kai I heard is the same one that did this… I really don't want that to be true…_'

"Hmm, a love rival for Lina at this delicate stage in your relationship?" Whisper interjected thoughtfully, floating up from behind Nate, startling him. "That's not good, you best keep your head in the game, Nate! Don't be swayed by some pretty ghost girl before you have even gotten past the first date here!"

Nate's eye twitched as he glared at Whisper, before he started trying to swat at the annoying ghost, which his butler easily managed to dodge by simply floating higher.

Luckily for Nate, neither Lina nor Zoey were paying attention to his strange behavior at that moment.

"You think the spirit might be in love with Nate…?" Lina questioned, blatantly ignoring the 'competition' part of her friend's deduction. "I suppose, if it is a young girl, it's possible… or it could be even that Nate resembles a boy she was in love with?"

Zoey looked annoyed at Lina, one again, not reacting to her bait, while her friend turned to the lone boy of the group.

"Nate, do you have…" Lina's eyes blinked behind her bangs, seeing Nate swatting at the air. "What are you doing…?"

Nate froze up when he heard the girl's voice, turning away from Whisper to see Lina looking at him, he quickly hid his hands behind his back, letting out a nervous laugh, "Um… there was a mosquito! But it's gone now!"

Lina looked at the spot where Whisper floated, a suspicious frown crossing her face

The ghost sweated a bit as he was stared at, '_She can't see me, right…?_'

After a moment, Lina looked away from the spot and turned back to Nate, "Well, mosquitos aside, I wanted to know if you had any older relatives you resemble, perhaps…?"

The brown-haired boy looked surprised at that question, though decided to answer honestly, "Well… my grandma says I look almost identical to my grandpa when he was a kid."

"Interesting…" Lina muttered thoughtfully, crossing her arms.

"So, the ghost could be the one whom had an unrequited crush on his grandpa," Zoey nodded, looking satisfied with that assessment. "If that's the case, it actually is pretty lucky that you went and invited this guy, Lina, even if he _personally_ has no connection to the supernatural…"

"Please don't call me 'this guy' when I'm right here…" Nate muttered with a slight look of annoyance, he internally wondered if he should mention that his grandfather had lived in Harrisville, thus making it unlikely that some ghost girl in Springdale had a childhood crush on him, before deciding not to; he wanted to give them _less_ reason to suspect he was personally involved with the supernatural, not _more_.

Lina didn't look so sure of the assessment, "It's a theory, though we don't yet have sufficient evidence, all we know is that there's a spirit reacting to Nate's presence, and that he has been hearing a female voice."

"I suppose you're right," Zoey nodded, chuckling a bit, before moving towards the still opened door, "Come on, let's get to our next stop; the second-floor science lab!"

"Ah yes, quite a few rumors of paranormal activity stem from that room," Lina voiced her agreement, watching Zoey make her exit of the room, but glanced towards Nate before she took to following her.

The boy was still looking at the scale, a quizzical look to his eyes, an indication that he knew more than he was letting on to the two girls…

"Nate."

"Huh?" Nate blinked, looking towards Lina after she spoke his name. "What is it?"

Lina stood for a moment, considering her next words. She glanced to the scale the boy was looking at; there didn't seem to be any more activity occurring there… The girl turned her small smile back to the boy, motioning her hand for him to follow her. "Come Nate, let us not linger in this room any longer, there is still much to investigate."

Nate frowned, his eyes drifting back to the scale, "Right… um, go on ahead, I'll catch up…"

Lina's smile faded at the notion of the boy separating from her and Zoey again, but she nodded in acceptance. "Very well…" she walked over to the door, glancing back at the boy and giving a smile once more, "But, don't keep me waiting too long, tee-hee."

Nate nodded back to Lina, before she exited. Seeing that he was alone again, Nate took the opportunity to shine his yo-kai watch's light onto the scale; whatever yo-kai that might have been there was gone, but he did take notice of something strange…

"Water…?" Nate muttered as he looked, the water lead from the door and to the scale, where a larger pool of it had gathered, and then out the door again, and further down the hall, in the same direction Lina and Zoey had gone. "Spiderwebs… water… this is very weird…"

"Hey, Nate, don't just stand there," Whisper suddenly spoke up, breaking his master out of his thoughtful position. "If you don't hurry, Lina's going to get annoyed with you for keeping her waiting again! And let me tell you Nate, on the list of first date dos and donts; _don't _push your luck!"

Nate scowled, giving Whisper a pointed glare, "This is _not_ a date! For the last time, drop that already!" shaking his head, the boy turned back to the trail of water, also glancing to the webbing around. "That nonsense aside, can you tell me what kind of yo-kai could be responsible for this stuff, Whisper?"

Whisper looked around, before crossing his arms with indignation, "There you go again, Nate; blaming yo-kai for everything! Can't you see, this is simply the result of shoddy cleaning staff, and I simply find it _appalling_ for a building of education!"

"They were invisible because of yo-kai energy, and this is no normal build up of cobwebs from lack of cleaning!" Nate exclaimed with frustration, gesturing around, before he just shook his head, turning away from the butler, "Forget it, let's just catch up to the girls…"

* * *

"Ah, there you are, Nate," Lina smiled as Nate entered the science room, looking over from her examination of the skeleton model. "Glad to see you saw fit not to keep us waiting too long this time."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to be… discourteous?" the lone boy muttered, looking unsure of his choice of words were appropriate.

"Well you're still lagging behind, that's kind of problem," Zoey interjected, looking over from a series of empty test tubes and beakers.

Nate sweatdropped at the accusatory statement, "Right, sorry…" walking into the room, the yo-kai watch user looked around, stepping over to Zoey and giving a strange look at the series of glass containers. "Shouldn't those be locked away at this time?"

Zoey let out a snort, giving a smirk to the boy, "Yeah, I know right? Someone was being lazy at closing tonight." she let out a sinister chuckle, "Though… maybe it's the result of spirits, I have heard that they like to move stuff around when you're not looking…"

"I… think the first one you said is more likely," Nate averted his eyes, '_Moving stuff around when you're not looking isn't exactly something I'd put past a yo-kai…_'

Zoey rolled her eyes at Nate's 'skepticism,' "You really have no affinity for this, you know? Even if you do somehow attract spirits, I'm not sure what Lina sees in you."

"Sees in me…?" Nate blinked, before his eyes widened a bit and he frowned, "Hold on, _you_ don't think Lina has a crush on me, do you?"

Zoey giggled mischievously, patting the brunette on the shoulder, "Congratulations, that didn't go over your head! Which is more than I can say for _someone_." Zoey's eyes went towards the other female in the room, letting out a bit of a scoff.

Nate glanced over at Lina, whom was now looking over with a confused frown, before sighing and shaking his head, "I don't know what to make out of any of this…"

"Good; that's more fun," Zoey smirked again, giving the boy a light elbow-jab.

Nate took a small step back from the bespectacled girl, a slightly uncomfortable frown on his face.

"Hey, Nate, come over here," Lina called out from the other side of the room, "I want to see if the skeleton reacts to you like the scale did!"

"And again, she is unable to fully express her desires upfront," Whisper suddenly stated in a faux-wise tone of voice, pulling a handkerchief from seemingly nowhere and wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye. "It is truly sympathetic."

Nate's eye twitch as he tried to ignore the nonsense of his yo-kai butler, giving a nod in Lina's direction to indicate he heard her.

Zoey shook her head at the containers, "Come on, let's go see what Lina's doing with the skeleton, these aren't doing anything."

"Not sure what you were expecting them to do in the first place," Nate commented, giving a bit of a troubled sigh as he carefully walked through the room, feeling an slight shiver go down his spine each time he stepped on one of the bits of web that covered the floor, even if it didn't seem to do anything.

"Supposedly, this skeleton has been reported as laughing on occasion," Lina stated as Nate and Zoey both came over to her, Lina smiled at them as she tapped one of the rib bones. "Some say, that one reason a spirit can linger is because the body was never properly put to rest," Lina gained a sinister smirk, "And of course, being used in a science class instead of having a proper funeral could of course be reason for that sort of haunting!"

"Oooh, spooky," Zoey chuckled along with her friend.

Nate rose an eyebrow, glancing at the skeleton, "But… that's a model, isn't it?"

An awkward silence filled the room as the two girls stared at Nate with blank expressions.

A nervous sweatdropped formed on the boy's head as he noticed the change in mood, "Er… did I say something wrong?" Whisper shaking his head with a disappointed look out of the corner of Nate's eye didn't help his nervousness at all.

Before anyone could say anything to break the awkward tension…

"_Please, Yo-kai Master, help me."_

Nate reeled back, looking around with a shocked expression, "A girl's voice again!?"

Both Lina and Zoey's blank expression turned to ones of surprise, the boy quickly covered his mouth.

"You heard it again?" Lina's excited smile returned once more, the boy's previous 'refusal' to go along with her joke forgotten.

"Okay, this is really starting to feel like a rip-off!" though Zoey looked interested, she was _less_ pleased than her fellow Ghost Club member.

"I…" Nate looked between the two, looking at the skeleton model nervously, before he sighed, "Yeah, I heard the girl's voice again," he seemed to take on a contemplative look as he considered it, "She was asking for help…?"

"Help? So, she actually spoke this time," Lina's curiosity seemed to grow, turning to focus on the model, "And her voice came from the skeleton this time…?"

"And we couldn't hear it, _again_," Zoey pointed out, looking a tad put-off by this fact.

"Yes, Nate's connection to spirits is becoming all the more apparent, it truly was a wonderful idea to invite him onto this crusade," Lina smiled, oblivious to her friend's frustrations. "Tell me Nate, aside from hearing a voice, did you notice anything else? Perhaps movements or strange feelings?"

"Um, no, just a voice," Out of the corner of his eye, Nate was sure he saw a small shadow zip by, and out into the halls, this is something else he chose to keep to himself. "And I'm_ still_ not entirely sure it wasn't just my imagination."

Zoey scoffed, "Nothing worse than when a _skeptic_ is the one who gets all the encounters, I bet the ghost's just messing with us."

Lina was staring at Nate again, her suspicious frown returning as his denial.

Nate gave a bit of a cough, feeling uncomfortable from how the two ghost hunters were looking at him, "Well… what can I say? I'm just trying to be rational here…"

"What about the shaking scale? Or how you've heard that girl's voice _twice_ before now?" Lina stated calmly, still staring at Nate with suspicion. "You don't try to dismiss the supernatural until you're put on the spot… what exactly are you hiding?"

"Huh, h-hiding?" Nate stepped back from the two girls, instinctively covering his yo-kai watch. "I'm not hiding anything, it's just… that stuff caught me off guard, I'm just trying to consider more rational ideas of what could be happening…"

Lina's hidden eyes were immediately drawn to the watch Nate put his hand to, her suspicion deepening as she took a step toward the boy, causing him to step back further in response.

"Lina, really?" Zoey shook her head, crossing her arms and giving a dismissive wave. "You're looking to far into this, the guy's been getting lucky, but there's no_ conspiracy_ or anything with him."

"Yeah, I'm just…" Nate tried to think of a word to say other than 'average' that would convince Lina to back off, but it turned out to be unnecessary.

Lina gave a dissatisfied sigh, putting her hands to her hips as she kept looking at Nate, before turning back to Zoey, "Well… I guess we're not going to find anything else here, what's next…"

Nate gave a slight sigh of relief as Lina and Zoey discussed where the next point of investigation was to be.

"Wow, you are really doing _badly_ on this date, Nate," Whisper gave his unwanted interjection as he hovered by the boy's shoulder. "If you want to impress this girl, you don't need to tell her about yo-kai and all, but you could do better than just… _this_!"

Nate's eye twitched, his hands turning to fists as he growled.

"Come on, Nate," Lina suddenly spoke up, stopping the boy from any attempt to attack his yo-kai butler. "The third floor's music room is our next stop, there have been rumors of the instruments playing themselves," a small smile made its way back to the girl's face as she reached out and grabbed hold of Nate's wrist.

"Huh, hey!" Nate shouted in protest, but the boy was reminded of Lina's unexpected strength when he found he could do nothing to break free from her grip. "Lina, what are you doing?"

"You really think we're going to let you lag anymore?" Zoey snickered as she stood back, "Also, don't act as if you don't _like_ that Lina's holding your hand!"

"I'm not holding his hand, I'm holding his _wrist_," Lina pointed out plainly.

Zoey deflated, giving an annoyed groan, "And there she goes again, and here I am," Zoey looked away from the other two kids and back at the skeleton, "Stuck with a skeptic with all the luck, and a girl who can't get a clue, and I am left without a spiritual encounter, or the satisfaction of flustering my friend, woe is me!"

Lina and Nate both just stared at Zoey blankly for a couple of seconds, before Lina opted to ignore her and turned back to Nate.

"I'm not letting you get away again, this time you _will_ be there when I'm doing my initial investigations of the area," Lina insisted firmly, walking out of the science lab, dragging the boy all along the way, while Zoey followed soon after.

Whisper watched this go on with a baffled expression, "Hmm… maybe this date is going better than I thought it was!"

* * *

"Come on Nate, pick up the pace," Lina encouraged eagerly, still dragging the boy along as they moved towards the stairs.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Nate protested, being more pulled along by Lina than walking on his own. "How are you so fast!?"

"I think you're just slow," Zoey commented, a few meters behind the boy, and walking at a somewhat slower pace.

Nate growled a bit, glaring back at Zoey, before he caught something unsettling; sparks moving across the webbing, along the same path they were moving. '_What the… what is that?_'

"_Play with me!"_

Nate gulped, that wasn't the girl's voice he had been hearing, that was the creepy voice from before…

"_Come play with me, little children!"_

Just before reaching the music room, Lina froze, causing Nate to get disoriented at the sudden stop.

"What the… Lina?" Nate blinked, noticing how stiff the girl had gone, he looked over at Zoey's position behind them, she had stopped as well, with her glasses having fogged over. "Huh…?"

"The bathroom…" Lina muttered in a creepy monotone. "We have to go to the bathroom…"

Nate stared at the girl blankly, an uncomfortable expression settling as he fully processed what she had said, "Er… okay, well there's one right–huh!?" Nate's face turned bright red as Lina started moving towards the girls' bathroom, while dragging _him_ along with her! "Wait, Lina, stop!"

"The bathroom, we have to go to the bathroom," Lina and Zoey both spoke in unison, eerie smiles on their faces as they moved toward the bathroom.

"No! I can't!" Nate struggled to break free, looking between the two girls incredulously. "What's wrong with you guys!?" glancing down, Nate's eyes widened when he noticed the sparks of the webbing had accumulated at their feet and were guiding their paths to the bathroom.

"Play, let's play…" both Lina and Zoey chanted eerily as they made it to the door.

"Is this some kind of inspiritment?" the boy questioned with dread, he tried to get his yo-kai watch, but was given a painful reminder that the wrist where the watch was stationed was currently trapped in Lina's still-firm grip.

"Well, this is an unexpected turn, I really don't think you should be entering the bathroom with these young ladies, Nathan," Whisper spoke up in a chastising tone as he hovered over the group.

"Shut up and help me, this is a yo-kai's doing, Whisper!" Nate cried out as Lina used her free hand to open the bathroom door, dragging the boy along with them.

Whisper shook his head in disapproval, "Nate, you can't blame yo-kai for– "

"HELP ME!"

Lina and Zoey both chuckled as they marched into the bathroom, pulling Nate along.

"NATE! THAT'S THE GIRL'S BATHROOM!" Whisper loudly reiterated his disapproval, quickly following them, grabbing Nate's shoulder when he caught up, trying and failing to pull the boy out of the room.

"Whisper…" Nate spoke dangerously, his eyes focused on the room, his hand freed by Lina and Zoey, "Don't you think something seems… _wrong_, about any of this…?"

Whisper gave a tired huff, wiping some sweat from his forehead after his failed attempt to pull the boy away, before glaring at him, "Aside from _you_ violating common decency?"

"Play, play…" Lina and Zoey chanted, still in a trance-like state, the odd webbing on the floor starting to creep up their shoes.

Nate gave his butler a deadpan expression, before he used his now free hands to use his yo-kai watch and start searching, "Whatever, I need to see what yo-kai is– " the yo-kai watch user started to say, when his watch caught sight of something stationed on the bathroom's ceiling, something that caused the boy to freeze up, his pupils shrinking in fear.

Whisper scoffed, "Oh, now you're blaming this lapse in decency on a yo-kai, that is so–WHAT IN THE NAME OF LORD ENMA IS THAT _THING_!?"

The monstrously-sized, six-legged, spider-like creature leered down at the children with its oni-like face, letting out a few heavy breaths, "**PLAY, PLAY FOREVER!**" dropping down from a single sting of webbing outstretched from its abdomen, the spider yo-kai landed on the floor, giving a loud bellow, licking its lips in eager anticipation.

Snapping out of his state of shock, Nate quickly turned to the trembling butler, "Whisper, what yo-kai is this thing!?"

The shout of the boy snapped Whisper out of his frozen state, "Er, yes, w-well, that one is, um…" the white ghost turned away, pulling out his yo-kai pad and quickly scanning the pages, "AHA!" he turned back around, pointing an accusatory finger towards the spider, "That's Tarantutor!"

**? Tribe: Tarantutor.**

"He's a spider yo-kai that likes to hang around schools, looking for students to play with–and by 'play,' I mean '_EAT_!'" Whisper shouted, reading over the entry frantically.

"EAT!?" Nate shouted with both shock and fear, glancing to Lina and Zoey, still in their trance-like, giggling states, with the webs continuing to creep up on their bodies. Nate trembled a bit, gulping down his fear.

"Yes, but luckily; Tarantutor is extremely shy, so he only comes out at night, long after his potential pray has gone home!" Whisper added, giving a relieved smile, which only lasted a brief moment before he realized the reality of the situation. "Oh… oh dear."

"I KNEW THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!" Nate shouted, pulling up his yo-kai watch, and grabbing the first medal he could think of, which was of course; Jibanyan.

"**Play! PLAY! PLAY!**" Tarantutor chanted, rising up before the significantly smaller forms of Nate, Lina and Zoey. "**TIME TO PLAY!**"

Nate grit his teeth, moving forward to stand between Tarantutor and the two Ghost Club girls, "Not on my watch, Tarantutor!" holding up the nekomata's medal, the boy began the summoning sequence. "Come on out my friend! Calling Jibanyan! Yo-kai medal, do your thing!"

"**SUMMONING CHARMING!**" the yo-kai watch's automated voice shouted out, before the summoning circle burst out from the face, the Charming tribe's summoning song beginning to play. "**Alarming, boom, boom! Walla, walla, dance, dance, Charming!**"

With a flourish in the pink summoning circle, the red-furred nekomata appeared, "Jibanyan!"

Landing before the boy who summoned him, Jibanyan gave a displeased, "Nyow why did you summon me!? It's late, Nyate, can't you just let a cat have some sleep!?"

"But, Jibanyan," Nate glared past the nekomata, his legs shaking a bit with fear, noting that the webbing was also starting to creep up his shoes, he was quick to shake it off, "I _really _need your help, look at this yo-kai!"

Jibanyan scoffed, turning to see his opponents, "What yo– "the nekomata couldn't finish his sentence, turning to see the giant face of Tarantutor leering down at him. "N-Nyow…" before Jibanyan could react, the spider yo-kai's abdomen rose up, pointing forward, before a mess of webbing was shot out!

"Jibanyan!" Nate cried out.

"Nyate!" Jibanyan struggled against the webbing that had entrapped his body, before sparks started emitting from the webbing, causing the trapped yo-kai to flinch in pain, while he also drooped with a clear loss of energy. "Nyate… help me…"

"This is bad!" Whisper suddenly interjected, floating back in front of Nate, hiding his yo-kai pad behind his back, "Tarantutor's webbing has electrical properties that allow them to zap away the energy of those that are trapped by them! Jibanyan's been made useless in one quick move!"

"What!?" Nate shouted, fear and regret in his eyes as he saw one of Tarantutor's massive legs push onto Jibanyan's helpless form, causing the cat yo-kai to let out a pained 'nya.' "Jibanyan, no…" trembling, Nate knew he needed to summon another yo-kai in order to save not only Lina and Zoey, but also Jibanyan now, which yo-kai could he summon? Reaching into his pocket, Nate could only hope he was carrying the medal of a yo-kai whom could help in this situation.

However, before the boy could pull forth another medal, the large eyes of Tarantutor moved towards him, the nightmarish creature's face twisting into a ferocious snarl, "**NO MORE CHEATING!**"

Nate looked up, his body froze as the creature seemed to move towards him in slow motion, its giant mouth full of sharp teeth wide open, looking ready to swallow him whole.

"NATE!" Whisper shouted, jumping between the boy and giant yo-kai, holding his arms out protectively. The yo-kai butler closed his eyes.

"Whisper!?"

"I WON'T LET YOU RUIN MY MASTER'S FIRST DATE!" Whisper shouted fiercely in the face of Tarantutor, actually stunning the giant spirit for a moment.

Nate was both moved by the protective stance Whisper had taken, while also sweatdropping at how he was still hanging onto the 'date' aspect of this situation…

"Don't worry Nate, I am a butler to the end!" Whisper gave a thumbs up as he turned back to the boy, giving a sparkling smile, "I will defend you to the–EEEEENNNND!" the butler's serious speech was interrupted when Tarantutor had regained his intimidating stance, and promptly smacked the smaller yo-kai away and straight into one of the bathroom stalls, landing him head-first in a toilet.

"W-Whisper…" Nate blinked, shocked by how quickly the mood had shifted. The mood was quickly shifted back to one of terror though, when Tarantutor loomed just over him.

"**PLAY! YOU PLAY WITH ME FIRST, CHEATER!**" the fang-filled mouth of the terrifying yo-kai opened wide.

Nate scrambled to grab a yo-kai medal, too afraid to try moving back for risk of leaving Lina and Zoey wide open to be chomped by the beast, but his shaky state did not help, and he ended up spilling the five other yo-kai medals he had been carrying onto the floor. "Oh no!"

"**PLAY! TIME TO PLAY!**" Tarantutor chanted, along with Lina and Zoey mimicking him in the background.

"_Not so fast…"_

Tarantutor stopped in its movements, looking up for the source of the female voice that had just echoed through the room.

Nate, though still terrified, had a flash of familiarity at that voice, "That's… the girl's voice from before…?"

A small, vaguely humanoid shadow zipped into the room from the hall, moving quickly around, drawing Tarantutor attention as it moved too quickly for him to get a good look at him.

Nate looked surprised by this turn of events, staring at the shadow for a moment, before he realized what it was doing; giving him time!

Letting out a heavy breath, Nate glanced back at Lina and Zoey, both of them now almost completely covered by Tarantutor's web, only their heads free, he looked to poor Jibanyan, still trapped and absent of energy, and Whisper, having pulled himself out of the toilet, but still sitting their with a dizzy expression…

Quickly ducking down, the boy began searching for his dropped medals, hoping he could spot the one he was sure could help, "Come on, where are you…?"

The shadow kept moving, but it was clear that Tarantutor wouldn't be able to be kept preoccupied from his potential 'playmates' for long. The vague form glanced in Nate's direction, "_Please, hurry, Yo-kai Master…"_ a dodge to a blast of webbing, the shadow kept up the evasive and distracting movements.

"Come on, come on!" Nate hissed, looking over the floor, he had grabbed four out of five medals, but none of five medals, but none of them were the one he– "There!" grabbing the last medal, the boy stood up, glaring at Tarantutor, holding his yo-kai watch ready.

"**Play…**" Tarantutor seemed to have finally lost interest in the shadow, creepily turning his head towards Nate, his eyes narrowing. "**PLAY!**" firmly planting all six legs on the ground, the spider-like spirit charged toward the human boy.

Nate had to use all his willpower to remain firm, he knew it was now or never. "COME ON OUT MY FRIEND! CALLING SHOGUNYAN!"

"**SUMMONING LEGENDARY!**"

"**RAH!?**" Tarantutor reeled back, stunned by the light of the summoning circle that blasted out from the yo-kai watch.

"**Imaginary! Incendiary! Flip flop, squiggle boom, slim slam, Legendary!**"

From the flashy summoning circle erupted a blue nekomata which heavily resembled Jibanyan, aside from the samurai armor, and the sword it held, ready to slice, "Shogunyan!"

**Brave Tribe: Shogunyan.**

Without even need for an explanation, the Legendary nekomata had already assessed the situation he had been summoned into, holding his blade out, he rushed forward, "Ultimate Electro-Spider Web SLICING ATTACK!"

In one brief movement, Shogunyan moved all around the room, and all the webbing broke into millions of insignificant pieces.

"Nya?" Jibanyan blinked after having been freed, before he jumped back to his feet with a roar of determination.

"Huh?" both Lina and Zoey blinked as they were freed from the webbing, and seemingly Tarantutor's inspiritment, before they both collapsed.

Tarantutor roared in outrage, "**NO! NO FAIR! CHEATERS! CHEA–** "

Shogunyan moved again, knocking Tarantutor onto his back, and exposing the soft underside of his abdomen, "You talk too much!"

Jibanyan jumped up with fire in his eyes, "This is for trapping me in a web! PAWS OF FURY!"

"BONITO BLADE!" Shogunyan shouted out his own Soultimate, joining his descendent in assault the spider creature.

Nate flinched as Tarantutor cried out in pain, until it eventually jumped up on the ceiling and speedily crawled out of the bathroom, Nate followed it for a brief moment, giving a sigh of relief when the creature fazed through one of the windows, running from the school as fast as it could. "It's gone… thank you guys…" he glanced back at Jibanyan and Shogunyan.

"Whatever… but nyext time, think more clearly before you summon me," Jibanyan grunted, clearly displeased by what he had to deal with not too long ago.

"It was a pleasure to be of service, Nyathan," Shogunyan bowed, putting his sword away. "I will go and pursue the beast, to make sure it does nyot wriggle itself into another threatening position," before he left, the samurai cat gave a nod to the his red-furred counterpart. "Keep up the good work, Jibanyan."

"Nya…?" Jibanyan tilted his head in confusion at the other nekomata's praise, but the Legendary yo-kai fled the scene before he could question him on it.

Nate smiled at Jibanyan, before he looked around, looking relieved as Tarantutor's web slowly dissipated.

"Ah, finally…"

Nate blinked, hearing the female voice he had heard from the shadow, though it seemed… different, more… tangible? Turning back to the bathroom, the boy was surprised to see the shadow drifting towards him, its form becoming more defined and solid-looking, until it had become something that resembled a young girl with black-hair, large eyes shrouded in shadow. She was dressed in a white shirt and red skirt, with suspenders. "Wait, who are you?"

The girl hovered in the air before the boy, smiling a bit as she looked him over, "Most kids nowadays call me 'Toiletta,' thank you for your help."

"Toiletta…?" Nate blinked in surprise, he had heard the urban legend of 'Toiletta' before, though he didn't realize she had been a yo-kai. "What do you mean by 'help?'"

Toiletta gave a troubled sigh, looking away from the boy, "That nasty spider commandeered my bathroom, and zapped away my power to the point I could barely maintain my form…" she looked around, giving a sad sigh, "It scared away all my other friends who used to come and play at this school at night… but luckily you came, I recognized you as the famous Yo-kai Master?" she smiled with reverence towards the boy.

"… 'Famous?'" Jibanyan blinked in disbelief as he looked up at Toiletta.

"'Yo-kai Master…?'" Nate also had a look of disbelief on his.

Toiletta nodded, "Yes… now that you've taken care of that nasty spider, maybe my friends will come back, thank you so much for your help!" floating closer to the boy, the humanoid yo-kai dropped her medal into his hand. "A token of my appreciation, and an offer of friendship! Call onto me whenever you are in need!"

Nate looked at the medal which depicted a slightly stylized version of Toiletta, before he pocketed and nodded to her, "I'll be sure to keep you in mind, so… you were the voice I kept hearing?" he questioned, which she nodded to.

"Yeah, I was trying to get your attention and assistance," a slightly guilty frown came to the ghost girl's face as she glanced back to the bathroom, "Though I must apologize; I was able to use what little of my power I had left to keep you from falling prey to Tarantutor's inspiritment, but, I didn't have the power to do the same for your two girlfriends, and it almost lead to your downfall…"

Nate coughed, looking to the side with his face reddening a bit, "It's fine, you may not have taken it into account, but you helped us, also… er, they're not my 'girlfriends…'"

"Correct, only Lina is! Zoey is more like a third-wheel!" Whisper suddenly stated, appearing beside Nate.

"Whisper!?" Nate jumped in surprise, "When did you get back up!?"

"Just now!" the yo-kai butler smiled widely, before he turned his focus to Toiletta with a scrutinizing look, "Hmm, so this is your ethereal admirer? Sorry to say, little lady, that Nate here is taken."

"I am not!" Nate stomped his foot on the ground in protest.

"And I'm not looking to date right now," Toiletta scoffed, crossing her arms, "Though you should probably check on your current dates right now, I'm sure they'll be disoriented from this experience!"

"They're not my 'dates!'" Nate shouted at Toiletta, while she laughed and flew back into the bathroom, fading into the third stall. Nate sighed, his body drooping a bit, "Well… this whole thing was more of an ordeal than expected…"

"Yeah, tell me about it," Jibanyan groaned, his tails drooping a bit.

* * *

Lina let out a dizzy groan as she regained consciousness, looking around she found herself to be seated in one of the chairs of the music room. She could hear Zoey making similar grunts to her side, and Nate standing by the piano, looking seemingly speaking with someone unseen, before he noticed the state of the girls.

"Oh, good, you guys are alright," Nate smiled, approaching the girls as they pulled themselves up from their chairs.

"Ug, what the heck happened, I feel like I was possessed," Zoey grunted while rubbing her head.

Lina looked at the other girl thoughtfully, before she turned to the boy, "Nate, is that what happened? Did we lose control of ourselves and do anything odd…?" despite the scary prospect of that idea, Lina smiled at it.

Nate coughed, looking away awkwardly for a moment, before shaking his head, "No, you two just… kind of tripped on the way here and hit your heads…"

"What, that can't be right," Zoey frowned, instinctively feeling her head for any sighs of bumps.

Lina didn't look convinced of Nate's explanation, but chose not to press it, looking over at the piano, she gave the boy a quizzical look, "What about the instruments? Was there anything here of interest?"

Nate shook his head, "No, I already searched over this room, and I didn't hear that voice again, or experience anything strange, everything's just… normal."

"You've gotta be kidding," Zoey looked disappointed, walking over to the piano herself and looking it over. "There's really nothing?"

There were a few more moments spent by Lina and Zoey investigating the music room, but as Nate said, there wasn't anything strange to be encountered.

After the conclusion had been reached, the trio moved back into the hall, Zoey holding up a notepad with the locations they had visited, and the evidence they had gathered.

"So, all we really have is Nate hearing some voice a couple times, and the scale in the nurse's office moving," the black-haired girl grunted,

Lina turned to the yo-kai watch user with her normal, yet eerie, smile, "Nate, are you absolutely sure that nothing… _strange_ happened when Zoey and I… bumped our heads?"

The boy gave a bit of a nervous chuckle, shaking his head, "No, there wasn't anything, I'm sure of that…"

Lina kept staring at him, Nate had that feeling again; like that girl was staring right into his soul, even though he couldn't see her eyes.

"Well, there's really only one thing left in our potential investigation," Zoey shrugged, still managing a bit of a smile despite her disappointment. "Toiletta."

Nate jumped a bit, looking towards the glasses-wearing girl in surprise, "T-Toiletta, you say…?"

"Oh, so you've heard of her?" Zoey chuckled sinisterly, gleefully mistaking Nate's surprise for fear.

"Er, of course I've heard of her, who hasn't heard of Toiletta…" Nate averted his eyes, trying his best not to look too suspicious.

Lina noticed Nate's change in demeanor, her curiosity growing, along with a playful smile, "Of course, and you must know how the legend says you summon her, yes?"

"Yes, I know it, but…" Nate looked towards the bathroom unsurely, "Are you sure it's a good idea to try and summon her? You guys did hurt your heads, maybe we should call the investigation off and head on home?"

"I do not feel any pain, so I must not have bumped my head too heard," Lina assured, keeping a clear focus on Nate, observing all of his body language, as well as his facial expressions.

"Yeah, me neither," Zoey's smirk widened as she looked directly at the boy, "Not so much a skeptic when it comes to Toiletta, huh? You _afraid_?"

Nate's eyes shifted around a bit, "… Uuuuhhhhh."

"That's _not_ an answer," Zoey pointed out bluntly. "Look, kid, we're the _Ghost Club_, you can't go getting spooked by urban legends if you want to stick with us."

"Yeah, fear of the otherworldly doesn't suit you, Nate," Lina insisted, a knowing grin on her face. "Though, I'm not so sure you are _afraid_…" seeing how the boy was remaining quiet, Lina moved closer to him, poking his shoulder a bit, "Come on Nate, it's just one last little bit of investigating, surely you can help us out, can't you?"

Nate nervousness increased, trying to move his eyes away from Lina, even as she kept moving around him to try to keep herself in his sights, poking at his shoulder or cheek occasionally.

"Hey, is everyone alright up here!" the sound of footsteps and a familiar voice calling interrupted the ground, a flashlight shined through the hall, before the security guard stepped into view, looking concerned, "I heard some loud noises, I was worried something might have happened," Cindy explained, looking relieved at the kids seemingly healthy state.

Nate was quick to jump on the opportunity, "Lina and Zoey hit their heads and lost consciousness for a short while! We're fine, but I really think they should go home!"

Both Lina and Zoey looked at the boy with a slight bit of annoyance, more so from Zoey.

"You hit your heads and blacked out!?" the security guard's eyes widened at that, "Alright, alright, I think it's time for this 'investigation' to end! You two need to get to your parents, and possibly have them take you to a doctor to check if you're really okay!"

"But we feel fine!" Zoey insisted, even as the guard moved around them and started trying to usher them towards the stairs. "We still have a bit more of investigating to do!"

"You might feel fine, but that doesn't mean you are fine," the security guard insisted firmly, moving the kids down the stairs to the second floor. "Besides, it's getting a bit too late for this to be continuing, it's not good for you kids to be out too much past your bedtimes!"

Zoey looked like she was about to voice another complaint as she was made to walk down the stairs to the first floor, but Lina held up a hand-motion for her to stop.

"She's right, Zoey, that little bump of ours put a little blunder on our timetable for this investigation, it's probably best if we do as she says," Lina herself didn't look convinced, but she spoke her words calmly and without faulter. "Head injuries are no joke, even if we feel fine, it is probably best that we get checked."

Zoey groaned as the guard released them in order to open up the front door for their exit, "I suppose so…" focuses her eyes on Nate again, whom stood silently with a bit of a nervous shuffle, she smirked, "I guess the three of us will just have to go over this evidence and decide our next investigation plans tomorrow!"

Nate's body twitched a bit at Zoey's words, before he turned to her with a nervous chuckle, "Um… did you just say the _three_ of us…?"

Lina giggled at Nate's expression, while Zoey's smirk turned malicious.

"Of course I did, _Nathan_. Allow me to give you a congratulations for becoming the third official member of the Springdale Elementary Ghost Club!"

Lina looked pleased by this announcement, clapping her hands, "Ah, that's wonderful Zoey! I'm so glad you're beginning to see things my way!"

Zoey laughed smugly, "Well, what can I say; I'm maybe starting to see a bit of what you see in this guy!"

Between the two Ghost Club girls, Nate could only let out a few distraught moans as it fully set in that there was no possible way he was getting out of this…

Pausing from her laugh, Lina focused on Nate, her smile turning mysterious as she quietly giggled once more, '_I still don't fully understand what's going on with you, Mr. Nathan Adams, but I do know something more than what Zoey and I saw happened tonight, something you deliberately hid from us... and I won't rest until I discover what secrets you are so desperately hiding!_'

As Cindy returned to the trio to lead them out the door, to make sure they returned to their parents safely, Whisper and Jibanyan both stood back, unseen all but one of the humans.

"Ah, the power of young love is really starting to take hold with those two," Whisper praised fondly, focusing on how Lina was still staring at Nate.

Jibanyan's ears twitched as he looked up at the floating spirit, "You really _are_ delusionyal, aren't you?"

* * *

Well, that's the second chapter, we're still not gotten really into more interaction between Lina and Nate yet, where the romantic friendship and eventually romantic relationship develops, but that should be starting up next chapter.

Some notes for things people might be wondering about.

1: Cindy isn't an OC, she is indeed one of the NPCs of Sparkopolis' maid café in Yo-kai Watch 3. I needed someone to be the security guard, and she was just the one I ended up picking. She probably won't come up again in the story.

2: Tarantutor is '? Tribe,' because I don't consider 'Boss' to be an actual tribe, more like a description, seeing as every boss yo-kai that can be befriended is assigned a different tribe in such, I take a yo-kai that has 'Boss' as their only tribe like Tarantutor to basically mean it's of an unknown tribe.

3: Nate doesn't know Toiletta; this is because, for reasons that will come up later in the plot, I need this story to be happening before the episode where Nate meets Spoilerina episode 39, and Toiletta is met in episode 60, so he's met Toiletta a bit earlier here.


	3. Club Meeting

Chapter 3: Club Meeting

* * *

It was another normal day in class, following the night of the Ghost Club's investigation that Nate had been… 'persuaded' into joining in on.

Nate let out a small sigh as he slumped in his chair, doing his best to listen to words of his teacher, but couldn't help it as his mind drifted back to the previous night, and the chilling encounter with that spider yo-kai, '_If I hadn't been there, Lina and Zoey might have…_' the boy couldn't stop his mind from considering the worst of possibilities as he recalled that battle; of the trance both of the girls were in, while that massive spider loomed overhead, if nobody had been there to fight it off…

Feeling the strange sensation of someone staring at him, Nate quickly glanced over to Lina's seat, but if she had been looking at him, she was quick to hide it. From what the boy could tell, Lina was keeping her full attention on the teacher, but he was sure he had seen her staring at him just out of his peripheral vision, moments before.

"Hm, can't take your eyes off young Lina now, can you?"

Nate resisted the urge to groan at the sound of his butler's voice, turning to glare at him, speaking in a quiet voice, "It's not like that, Whisper."

Whisper crossed his arms, making a 'tsk' sound in response to his master's rebuttal, "Now Nathan, I know it's embarrassing, but young love is a beautiful thing, and refusing to acknowledge the existence of this infatuation from either end will not do you or Lina any favors."

"Whisper, shut up…" Nate hissed at the ghost in a dangerous tone, though this time not quite enough…

"Mr. Adams, is my class boring you?" Mr. Johnson questioned as he looked towards the boy with a critical eye.

"N-No, I just… have a lot on my mind, sorry…" Nate muttered stiffly, lowering his head as several of the other students tried to hold back laughter.

Mr. Johnson kept an eye on Nate for a few more seconds but seemed to accept this as he turned back to the blackboard, "Alright, I'll let it go, but try to pay attention if you don't want detention."

"Yes sir," Nate nodded with a shameful tone to his voice, keeping his head low.

"Really, Nate, you should know better than to get so distracted in class," Whisper unapologetically chided the boy, shrugging as he drifted over his shoulder.

Nate subtly glared in the yo-kai butler's direction, but wisely chose to say nothing.

Unknown to Nate, Lina was staring at him once more, a suspicious frown on her face…

* * *

"Nathan, where are you going?" Whisper questioned as he followed the boy through the lunchroom.

"Um, to sit with my friends," Nate commented plainly; unlike usual, he did not carry a lunch tray, for some reason his mother had decided to make him lunch today (he was sure it had something to do with her perception of his 'date' last night…) and had given it to him in a bento box, currently being carried in his hand. The boy kept his focus on the table he usually sat at with Eddie, Bear and Katie as he kept moving forward.

"But Nate, that's rather rude, don't you think? Shouldn't you be eating lunch with Lina?" Whisper pointed out with a disapproving tone.

Nate just groaned in response to the butler's stubbornness, "For the last time, Lina and I are _not _dating, nor do I believe she _wants_ to date me! Would you please just drop this!?"

"Nate, who are you talking to?"

Nate blinked, turning to see Eddie standing before him, staring with a slightly concerned look. Nate quickly gained a nervous expression as he scratched his head, "Uh, well… you know; nobody, just… myself!"

"Okay…" Eddie didn't seem entirely convinced, but also didn't seem interested in pressing the issue further. "Well, come on, Katie and Bear are already at our table!"

Nate nodded, "Alright, I'm com– "

"And, where do you think you're going?"

Nate suddenly found himself unable to move forward, both of his arms being held by two more pairs. Looking left and right, the brunette boy gulped, seeing Lina and Zoey on either side of him, smiling mischievously.

"If you recall, Nathan, you are now a member of the Ghost Club," Zoey stated, holding back a chuckle.

"And, as a club, we must take this time not only to eat, but to discuss our upcoming plans," Lina's smile widened as she looked at the frightened boy.

"I, um…" Nate quickly glanced between the two girls, who, before he knew it, were already dragging him off, "Gah!? Why are you–hold on–sorry guys! I guess I'm going this way now!" the boy gave a hasty wave and apology to his three usual companions, before he was pulled out of the cafeteria.

Eddie, Katie and Bear stared after their friend blankly, before turning to each other.

"Uh… since when did Nate hang out with Lina and Zoey?" Bear questioned slowly.

"Lina was asking about Nate the other day, did something happen?" Eddie looked thoughtful.

"Oh yeah, I remember," Katie gained a small smile as she recalled that encounter, giggling a bit to herself, "Looks like she took the initiative, good for both of them!"

Eddie and Bear both looked at their female friend with confusion.

"What do you mean by that…?" Bear asked slowly.

"Sorry, not my place to tell," Katie giggled again, making a zipping motion over her lips.

"Oh, come on!" Bear cried out in protest.

"Where'd they take him anyway…?" Eddie muttered questioningly, staring out the exit to the cafeteria the creepy girls had taken their friend…

* * *

"You know, Nate, it's a good thing you didn't get detention for that little 'moment' of yours in class," Zoey smirked as she stood at the front of the Ghost Club's room.

"Haha," Nate gave a sarcastic laugh, sitting at one of the club room's tables, setting up his lunch to be eaten. "Are you bringing that up for a specific reason, or is it just to make fun of me?"

"Why does it have to be one or the other?" Zoey chuckled.

Nate gave the black-haired girl an annoyed look.

Lina held back the urge to giggle, sitting a few seats to the lone male's left.

Zoey's chuckling died down, before she smirked again, "It is important, since we're going to need you for our next investigation!" her smirk widened a bit, "And this time, the location is a _little_ more out of the way than school!"

"Out of the way?" Nate rose an eyebrow in suspicion at that wording.

"_Speaking _of that little 'moment' of yours, Nate," Lina interjected, looking to the boy with a mysterious smile, "I couldn't help but notice; you seemed less like you were spacing out, and more like you were just focused on _something else_… something nobody else could _see_."

Nate wiped away a bit of sweat that was starting to form on his brow as he felt Lina's gaze on him, even with her hair covering her eyes. "Um… what do you mean by… uh, that?"

"Hmm, now that you bring it up," a gleam flashed across Zoey's glasses as she narrowed her eyes, "It _did_ seem like you were muttering about something, or was it… _to someone_?" the black-haired girl grinned as she stared at the boy in way that caused him to visibly squirm in discomfort. "Was it, perhaps, a _spirit_!?"

"Huh, these girls are more perceptive than I thought," Whisper commented, drifting over Nate's right shoulder.

The boy resisted the urge to respond to his butler's useless comment, doing his best to gulp down any nervousness he felt and speak calmly and clearly, "You two are being ridiculous, how could I have possibly been talking to a spirit? And why wouldn't you two have noticed a spirit if I did?"

"Hmm, that is a good point," Zoey admitted, putting a finger to her chin as she hummed thoughtfully.

Lina frowned, keeping her unseen gaze locked on the boy, "Interest does not equal affinity. Though Zoey and I have investigated the supernatural for a long while, the most we've been able to for sure detect on our own is strange energies… that is, until our investigation last night…"

Zoey groaned, crossing her arms as she sent her friend an annoyed look, "Do you have to say it like that? We don't want the new guy getting a big head _already_!" she gave a huff, before her expression turned thoughtful again, "Though, that is a good point…"

Nate felt his blood run cold as his body stiffened, "That… Those incidents had n-nothing to do with me! You experienced them to the same degree as me, and we couldn't conclude _what_ they were in the first place."

"But we _didn't_ experience them to the same degree as you," Lina corrected, her line of vision unmoving from the brunette boy's form. "You heard things we didn't, activity only seemed to occur in your presence…"

Feeling the pressure of the two gazes on him, Nate made a move to try and change the subject, "Um, Zoey; what was that you were saying about the next place we'll be investigating…?"

The bespectacled girl blinked at the question suddenly being directed at her, but grinned all the same, eager to explain her plans.

Lina, however, did not seem nearly as happy as the other girl, "Nate, you're dodging our questions."

Zoey didn't seem to notice, and/or care about her friend's misgivings, as she began speaking, "I'm glad to see you're integrating into the club well, Nathan! As for where our next investigation, we're going to need to wait until the weekend before we can put it into action, so we have the rest of today and tomorrow to plan out the investigation!" Zoey's grin turned slightly sinister, "And on Saturday evening, we'll meet up to investigate; Nocturne Hospital!"

Despite her annoyance over being cut off from questioning their newest member, Lina seemed to perk up a bit with interest at the mention of the next location for investigation.

Nate, however, seemed less interested in the prospect, "Um, by 'Nocturne Hospital,' do you mean that spooky, abandoned hospital, over by Shopper's Row…?"

Zoey let out a chuckle at the boy's questioning, "What's the matter, Nate, _scared_?"

Nate averted his eyes, going a bit red from embarrassment, "N-No, of course not, but…" '_I'm pretty sure a place like that would be crawling with yo-kai…_' that last thought of Nate's went unspoken.

Zoey just chuckled again, "What's wrong? Did you really not think we'd be investigating some spookier locations than just our _school_?"

"We _are _the 'Ghost Club,' you know," Lina added mischievously.

"You can't tell me you didn't think about the possibilities of exploring an abandoned hospital when you joined the club," Zoey crossed her arms with her smirk widening.

Nate wanted to argue further against the idea of him being 'scared,' (he _definitely_ wasn't!) but at that moment, felt the need to point something else out, "Er, you know; I didn't exactly 'join,' right? You guys kind of _forced_ me into this…"

"You didn't _need_ to accept Lina's invitation to join our last investigation, and if you hadn't you wouldn't have become part of the club," Zoey quickly countered, her smirk unchanging.

Nate felt the urge to point out that he wasn't really given a 'choice' when it came to Lina's 'invitation' either, but thought better of it…

"Really though, surprised you accepted that in the first place," Zoey laughed as her eyes narrowed. "Ghost hunting's never really seemed like your 'thing,' but perhaps… did you maybe think Lina's invitation was for something _else_…?" despite how impossible it seemed, Zoey's smirk managed to grow even wider and more mischievous at that inquiry.

Nate and Lina both just seemed confused

"You continue to say strange and confusing thing, Zoey; what else _could_ he have thought my invitation was for?" the blue-haired girl questioned with a slight frown.

"Yeah, what are you talking about? She was pretty clear about what she wanted," Nate muttered, scratching his head.

Zoey let out an annoyed groan, "Great, now Lina is managing to suck the fun out of teasing you too, Nate…"

Nate blinked, exchanging another confused look with Lina.

"Are you really that dense, Nathan?" Whisper suddenly spoke up as he floated up behind his human master.

Nate tried not to look in Whisper's direction.

Despite being, obviously, ignored, the yo-kai butler continued, "Young Zoey is referring to the true nature of Lina's request to you, of course, which you have still ignorantly refused to pick up on!" the white ghost did a twirl as he moved to the human boy's other side. "You know what I'm talking about, of course! The D-A-T-E!"

Nate's eyes widened as his face went slightly red, but he still refused to acknowledge the ghost who had reinserted the flustering thought into his head.

However, the signs of Nate's discomfort were enough for Zoey to latch onto and, willfully, misinterpret. Smirking widely, the black-haired girl gave a cackle, "Oh, I stand corrected; maybe you're not quite out of my teasing range yet, _Natey_!"

Nate's eyes widened, before he quickly started shaking his head, "W-Wait, no! Zoey, you don't understand!"

This, however, just further fed Zoey's enthusiasm, "Oh, I don't, do I? Well, what exactly is your relationship with Lina?"

"Same as my relationship with you!"

"_Same as me_, huh? Pretty confident to think you can handle _two_ girls, Nathan," Zoey's laughter intensified.

"No, wait! That's not what I meant! ZOEY!" Nate quickly backpaddled as his embarrassment increased.

"Huh, he really has no idea how to handle girls," Whisper shook his head/body in disappointment as he watched the boy flounder about against Zoey's psychological assault.

"Hmm…" Lina was paying little attention to the conflict between her two clubmates, staring in the general direction of Whisper, a curious expression on her face.

Hearing the blue-haired girl's hum, the yo-kai butler glanced in her direction, and suddenly felt rather nervous from how she seemed to be staring at him, '_She… she really can't see me, right?_'

Lina kept staring for only a few more moments, before she gave a shrug and turned her attention away from the unseen yo-kai's spot.

Whisper couldn't help giving a small sigh of relief and wiping some sweat from his forehead.

"Teasing you two aside, it is important for us to make a plan for how we're going to go about our investigation of Nocturne Hospital," Zoey spoke calmly as she paced at the head of the room. "Unlike with our case of investigating the school, I doubt we're going to be able to just get permission to look around an abandoned building at night…"

"Do we need to do it at night? On the weekend we could probably look around during the day," Nate suggested in an unsure tone. '_Plus, there will probably be less chance of some unruly yo-kai disrupting the whole thing…_'

"Don't be a baby, Nate, everyone knows there's far more chance of ghost activity at night," Zoey gave the boy a dismissive wave.

'_That's exactly what I'm afraid of!_' Nate held back from saying, just giving a defeated sigh as he sunk into his chair, "And how exactly do you intend to get our parents to allow us to go out, late at night, to explore an abandoned, potentially dangerous, hospital…?"

"_That's_, an excellent question, Nathan!" Zoey exclaimed confidently.

"… You have no idea, do you?" Nate deadpanned, letting out a small groan immediately after.

"I have several thoughts," Zoey's confidence was unshaken. "Though, we do need to discuss them to decide our best course of action…"

"We also need a plan for how we're going to go about investigating the hospital," Lina smiled as she looked towards the boy, "With Nate with us for the planning, this time, things should go a bit more smoothly than last time… and hopefully his affinity for spirits will grant us some notable encounters!"

Nate sighed, looking away from the girls, "I don't have an 'affinity' for spirits…"

"I still have doubts, but we'll see," Zoey shrugged, snickering a bit at Nate's discomfort.

Nate released a longer sigh, his head drooping, "So, I suppose there's no 'I don't want to do this' option available to me?"

"_Wow_, you're catching on faster and faster," Zoey held back her chuckles behind her faux-impressed tone.

The lone boy's head fell further, unable to come up with any words in response.

"Nate?" Lina seemed a bit concerned as she looked towards the boy, "Come on, we do need to discuss our plans for the next investigation!"

Nate sighed louder, raising his head back up and putting a hand to it, "I don't know, how are we supposed to convince our parents to let us go to some abandoned hospital at night anyway? It's not like we're just going camping, or something!"

Both Lina and Zoey paused, looking towards Nate, Zoey's eyes visibly widening.

"Wait, _what _did you just say?" the bespectacled girl asked slowly, raising a brow.

Nate gave a strange look back, "I said; it's not like we're just going camp– " the boy's eyes widened as the train of thought going through the girls' heads suddenly became obvious to him, "Hold on, you're not– "

"Thank you for your contribution to the planning of our next investigation, Nathan Adams!" Zoey voiced loudly, walking over to the boy and slapping him on the back with a chuckle, "I had a feeling you were more valuable than you let on!"

"No, wait– "Nate's protests went ignored.

"So, we say we're going camping…?" Lina pondered thoughtfully, before a small smirk came to her face, "No, we _will _go camping, but we'll investigate Nocturne Hospital while we're camping!" the blue-haired girl clapped her hands together happily, "Excellent idea, Nate!"

"But, I didn't…" Nate whimpered a bit, looking back and forth between the two girls, who were still praising him for 'his' idea, and how the investigation was 'no doubt' going to go smoothly. After a bit, the boy gave up, "Can we just eat now?" he questioned with an annoyed grunt, putting his lunch box up on his desk, "I'm really hungry…"

"Sure, why not," the glasses-wearing girl shrugged, giving a slight snort of amusement, giving both Nate and Lina a sly look, "You two want me to go eat in the cafeteria, and leave you _alone_?"

Nate flushed at the repeated insinuation, and opened his mouth to protest, however, the other girl spoke before he could.

"Yes, please," Lina nodded, sending a firm look to her friend.

Nate froze, gawking at Lina in befuddlement.

A teasing smirk crept onto Zoey's face, "Huh? Didn't think you'd actually go for that; starting to admit to yourself what's going on here, Lina?"

Lina frowned, "I want discuss something with Nate privately, I'm still not sure why you keep making all these accusations of other 'motives,' I've been nothing but honest with you!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure you have!" Zoey laughed, not sounding at all convinced, before she stepped over to the door and waved back at the other two club members, "Well, I'll leave you guys to that!"

Nate raised his hand, and attempted to speak once more, but Zoey was already out the door and slammed it behind her.

Nate slowly lowered his hand back down, the words of protest he had thought dying before they could even leave his mouth, and an uncomfortable silence filled the room…

Lina didn't seem bothered by the silence, a small smile coming to her face as she picked up a bento box from the ground, setting it on her desk.

Seeing no other option, Nate opened his own bento box, to see the lunch his mother had packed for him; a small smile made its way onto the boy's face at how carefully arranged the contents of the box were.

The sound of shuffling caught the boy's attention, turning; Nate found that Lina had somehow seated herself at the desk beside his, in the short amount of time he had looked away from her. The blue-haired girl didn't seem to notice the boy looking at her, she just stared at her unopen lunch box with anticipation.

Nate couldn't say why Lina hadn't yet opened her lunch, she seemed like she might have been waiting for something…

Clearing his throat, the boy decided to break the silence, "So, um… you brought your lunch from home today, too?" Nate almost kicked himself from how awkward he just sounded.

Lina seemed to take this as her cue to open her bento box, taking the lid off. "Whenever there is a club meeting during lunch, it's better to bring food from home, rather than attempt to take a cafeteria tray in here…" the blue-haired girl spoke calmly, not sparing even a glance Nate's way.

"O-Oh, I… guess that makes sense," the brunette boy coughed, glancing away with embarrassment.

"I always do things for a reason, Nathan, you know…" Lina spoke carefully, finally turning her head to face the boy.

Nate felt an uncomfortable sensation dance down his spine, in response to Lina's unseen gaze. Gulping down his nervousness, the boy spoke carefully, "So… what was the reason for asking Zoey to leave us alone…?"

Lina's mouth turned into a tiny frown in response to the boy's question.

Nate flinched as he felt the uncomfortable tension in the air tighten, "Um… Lina?"

"Nathan, eat your food…" Lina spoke in a quiet, yet almost commanding, tone of voice.

Nate started to sweat a bit, putting the lid back on his bento box, "A-Actually, I think I should go eat my lunch in the cafeteria, I-I'll leave you alone and– "

"No," the creepy girl put both hands on her desk, before speaking in an almost pleading tone, "Stay… _please_…"

Nate remained silent in response to this plea, but he halted in any attempt to leave, slowly taking the lid back of his bento box, and staring at his food…

"Hmm, seems little Lina already has you wrapped around her finger," Whisper commented with an amused chuckle.

Nate pointedly ignored the butler, picking up the sandwich from his lunch box, and taking a bite out of it.

Lina carefully used a pair of chopsticks to remove a mini hotdog from her lunch and plopped it into her mouth.

For a good moment, everything was quiet once more; the only sounds within the room being the munching of food from the two students, both of which only occasionally stealing a glance at each other, but never openly turning to face the other, or attempt to start any form of conversation…

"Nate…" Lina spoke, after what felt like an eternity, glancing over at the boy, her expression unreadable.

Nate nervously gulped down the last bite of his sandwich, before slowly turning to face her, "Um… yeah, Lina?"

"Why are you so nervous around me?" the blue-haired girl questioned, her expression changing to a slight frown.

"… Huh?" Nate blinked, looking a bit taken aback by this question.

"You keep averting your eyes from me whenever I glance your way," Lina stated in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "You become visibly uncomfortable whenever the subject of your, 'potential,' supernatural affinity is brought up, which is also the only time you seem to be in denial over the possibility of paranormal activity…"

"I…" Nate glanced down to the floor, sweat starting to drip down from his forehead, "Er, I… um… am not sure what you…"

"Nate, you're doing it _now_," Lina pointed out, bluntly. "The inability to form coherent sentences when under pressure is not very convincing, by the way…"

Nate nearly froze up in place, now seeming unable to speak as he tried to think of what he could even do to halt this line of questioning…

Lina kept staring at the boy, her frown deepening as the possibility that Nate had just 'shut down' entered her mind. Letting out a sigh of defeat, the curious girl decided to change the subject, _for now_. "So, what do you have for lunch?"

The sudden change of inquiry type caught Nate off guard and knocked him out of his mental block. The boy shifted in his seat a bit nervously for a moment, before forcing a friendly smile, and picking up his bento box. "Well, my mom made me a peanut butter sandwich… which I ate already," he let out a small chuckle. "She also packed me some rice balls, carrot sticks, and… a cream bread."

Lina noticeably perked up at the last item on that list, "Did you say… cream bread…?"

Nate paused, glancing over at the girl cautiously, "Er… yes…?"

Lina seemed to be trying hard to maintain her cool, collected nature, but something was _scratching_, just at the corner of her mind; a desire, different from her innate curiosity, "Would that, perhaps, be a cream bread… from Banter Bakery…?"

Nate slowly glanced between his lunch, and the girl who seemed to be battling to keep her composure, "Do you… want it?"

Lina's whole body went stiff for a moment, an incomprehensible look crossing her face, before she quickly started waving a hand, "O-Oh, no, that… that's generous of you, Nathan, but I wouldn't want to deprive you of your treat!"

Nate sighed at the girl's attempts of denial, before he picked up the baked good and presented it to the other student, "Here; take it."

Lina paused, "I, don't really…" she seemed unsure of how to finish her sentence.

The boy gave a friendly smile, still holding the treat out, "Go on, you clearly want it, and I'm really not that hungry anyway."

Lina kept her gaze on the cream bread for a couple of moments, briefly glancing to Nate's smile a few times, before carefully reaching out and grasping it, "W-Well, if… if you insist, I suppose I could take it off your hands," the blue-haired girl gave a few fake coughs, a small smile and a slight embarrassed blush coming to her face. "… Thanks."

Nate chuckled a bit as Lina took the cream bread, coveting it in her hands for a bit, before she started to nibble on it, '_She can actually be kind of cute sometimes, I guess…_' as soon as that thought crossed his mind, the boy quickly started shaking his head, '_WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING!?_'

Ignorant to Nate's inner-struggle, Lina gave a bit of a happy sigh, before taking a larger bite out of the cream bread, '_So good!_' she resisted the urge to giggle, feeling an immense joy at being provided one of her favorite treats, '_That was really nice of him… maybe I should let up on the questioning a bit…_'

There wasn't much conversation between the two children while Lina ate the cream bread, and Nate consumed a few more items from his lunch.

After finishing the last bite of the cream bread, Lina thought to herself on what sort of thing she could say next, given her resolve to ease on the questioning on the boy's possible supernatural connections. Eventually, a thought came to the girl, which had her grinning, "Say, Nate…?"

"Um… what?" Nate was reluctant to speak, not looking up from his lunch.

Lina was undeterred, "You heard about the new Space Wars movie that's coming out, right?"

That had the boy's attention, "Wait,_ you_ like Space Wars…?" Nate questioned with a bit of surprise, looking over at the girl.

Lina's grin widened, "I don't _like_ Space Wars, Nathan. I _love _it!"

Whisper perked up with interest as he continued to listen to the conversation, '_Oh, what's this? Some unexpected common ground?_'

Nate's enthusiasm notably increased when the topic of one of his favorite film franchises was brought up, "Really? So, you're also looking forward to– "

"–The upcoming, and highly anticipated, release Space Wars Episode III?" Lina finished for the boy, smirking widely. "Of course, I am! It's the climax of the trilogy, after all, and supposedly it will reveal the true identity of my favorite character; Emperor Krill!" the blue-haired girl raised a fist with excitement after that statement.

Nate rose from his seat in surprise and excitement, "Wait, _your_ favorite character is Emperor Krill _too_!?"

"Surprised?" Lina let out a bit of a giggle, "Well I'm a bit surprised he's your favorite character too, you seem more like the type to like– "

"–Lark, yeah, I've gotten that before," the boy nodded in understanding, "And yeah, I get why people would think that; I'm the 'average' guy, after all, and he's the main character, but…" a small smirk came to the brunette's face, his eyes shining a bit, "What's a hero, without a good villain?"

"I know exactly what you mean!" the blue-haired girl nodded excitedly, "Yeah, we know the hero needs to win in the end, but the villain is such an important aspect to that type of story!"

"Yeah, I don't understand why so many people hate the villain for playing their part _well_," Nate laughed, "Of course Emperor Krill does a lot of horrible things, that's all the more reason that Lark's quest to stop him and his empire is so important!"

Sharing a cheerful laughter over their shared interests, the two kids continued to discuss Space Wars…

"Wow, Lina, I gotta admit," Nate smiled, just after the two had finished talking about their favorite scenes from the previous two Space Wars films. "I never expected you of all people to be such a Space Wars fan!"

"And why's that? Is it because I'm a _girl_?" Lina gave a teasing grin.

"No, no, it's not that!" Nate quickly denied, waving his hands a bit nervously, "I know not all girls are the same, Katie likes a lot of stuff you wouldn't expect just from looking at her. But you just always struck me as the type who preferred more… 'spooky' stuff, and mysteries, rather than sci-fi," the boy let out a bit of chuckle at this statement.

Lina stared at the boy silently, her smile falling.

Nate's chuckling died down soon, with him realizing that the girl at his side clearly didn't find his comment very funny. "Um, Lina…?"

"… I do like that stuff," a bit of a smile returned to the girl's face when she spoke, but there was something off about it. "But, I also like Space Wars, the story and characters appeal to me in a number of ways," her smile turned a bit mysterious as she looked to the boy again, "There's more to me than being 'spooky,' just like how there's more to _you_ than being 'average.'"

It took a moment for Lina's words to really hit him, but Nate's eyes soon widened as he realized exactly what she was saying, "Oh, I… I'm sorry, Lina. I spoke without thinking, and ended up hurting your feelings…"

"At least you realized your error, though the fact you made such a blunder in the first place shows you still have a long way to go," Whisper shrugged with a bit of a sigh, "Though, I am a bit proud you owed up to it, and apologized."

Nate didn't acknowledge his yo-kai butler, keeping all focus on Lina, for the moment.

Lina's smile turned a bit more genuine in response to the apology, "It's fine, Nate, I admit; I didn't think much of you beyond 'average' until quite recently, a fact I myself am a bit ashamed of."

Nate blinked, noting that Lina's smile turned a bit embarrassed, before he smiled back at her, "That's okay, Lina, we've never talked much, before recently; what else could you have thought?"

"Same to you, I suppose, tee-hee!" Lina giggled, putting a hand to her mouth.

"Ah, I love a good resolution!" Whisper blew his nonexistent nose on a tissue, which he had pulled out from nowhere, "I'm so happy to see the development of this budding relationship!"

Nate's eye twitched, emitting a low growl as he placed a hand to his head.

Lina noticed the shift in mood, her smile fading as she gave the boy a quizzical look, "Nate… are you sure it's okay? You seem a bit… irritated…"

Nate quickly forced a smile, not wanting the girl to think he had any issue with her (when his issues were with _Whisper_), "It-it's nothing, Lina! Really, I'm not mad at you or anything… my mind was just elsewhere, for a moment."

Lina let out a curious hum, her unseen eyes drifting to the boy's wrist, "There's been something different about you lately, Nate… ever since you started wearing that strange watch, in fact…"

The boy's eyes widened, and a nervous frown formed on his face, his hand unconsciously moving to cover his yo-kai watch, "M-My watch…?"

Whisper even looked a bit concerned, "Hm, your little girlfriend here might be a bit more perceptive than initially thought, Nathan…"

The yo-kai watch-user released a low hiss, glaring at his butler out of the corner of his eye.

Lina impatiently tapped her fingers on her desk, smirking a bit when Nate's attention returned to her, "You keep drifting off like that, Nate… almost as if there's something you see, that I can't…"

Nate gulped, his hand still firmly covering his watch, trying not to glance in Whisper's direction.

The yo-kai butler himself was starting to sweat a bit, noting how Lina was paying more attention to the spot he was floating in, "She is actually rather, erm, intimidating…"

Lina only briefly kept her vision on Whisper's position, her attention quickly turning to the boy who currently held so much of her interest, "Come on, Nate, what's the matter? I merely pointed out your change of demeanor correlates with when you started wearing that watch, though that doesn't necessarily mean causation, but they way you're responding to my questioning…" despite the girl's blue locks obscuring her eyes, the gaze that she kept on the boy seemed to intensify…

"It… it's important to me, my grandpa made it," Nate quickly explained, rationalizing that it wasn't _technically_ a lie. "That's all, really."

Lina's intensity lowered a bit at the mention of the boy's late grandfather, though she was still clearly suspicious, "Is that so…? Might I ask what it is used for?" the girl's mouth became a tiny smile, her gaze fixated on the watch, "It doesn't seem to have the capabilities to tell time, and I've noticed you shining a light from it around often…"

Nate's body froze up, once more, and his face paled, '_How does she do that!? Nobody else notices anything I do; how long has she been 'observing' me!?_' the boy struggled to find an appropriate sequence of words to rebuff the blue-haired girl's questioning, but nothing came out of his mouth.

Whisper continued to hover at his master's side, a concerned look clear on his face.

Lina kept looking at Nate, her smile slowly changing to a straight line, "Nate…?"

"Lina, I…" Nate released a defeated sigh, lowering his head and removing his hand from the yo-kai watch, "I just… can we just, talk about Space Wars some more, or something? I really don't feel like being 'interrogated' right now."

Lina frowned at her companion's word choice, "I'm not interro– "the girl suddenly paused in her rebuff, taking notice of the boy's tired expression, "… Alright, Nate; let's talk Space Wars!" the girl's smile returned, while she internally buried her burning desire for answers, behind the equally powerful desire to discuss one of her favorite franchises with a fellow fan.

Seeing his request being acknowledged had the boy briefly look up with surprise in his eyes, which was quickly overwhelmed by enthusiasm as he sat up straight and looked directly to his female companion.

* * *

Just outside the door to the clubroom, one bespectacled girl was standing, her ear against the door, a disappointed growl escaping her mouth.

Pulling away from the door, Zoey crossed her arms with a huff, "What's with those two? Not a single bit of interesting dialogue, even when left to their lonesome!" she grumbled a bit more, leaning against the wall, before her expression changed to a more sympathetic one, '_Still, nice they're getting along… I guess,_' a frown came to her face after a moment, '_But… why didn't I know that Lina liked Space Wars…?_'

* * *

And, new chapter up! About time I finished this!


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